


Screw Your Rules

by Sophieistrash



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Background Relationships, Blood and Violence, But he is a sweatheart he just likes to hide it, Del isn't someone to mess with, Evan is on a mad one, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, I'm sorry Evan lol, M/M, Modern Assassins, One-Sided Attraction at first, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person, Slow Burn, a little graphic at the end, top!jonathan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2019-10-16 03:48:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 48,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17542106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophieistrash/pseuds/Sophieistrash
Summary: Acongojar where our characters live is a rotten city inhabited by gangs, millionaires and the "rest". You see, Evan falls under the last category and would love to change that. That's when a certain masked man comes into the picture."Run, goddammit!" He cried, running with him for a few seconds to make sure Evan was not turning back, then took a sharp turn and disappeared for good in a blind path.





	1. Late Night Walks

**Author's Note:**

> @L_C_Weary had been bugging me to do this for over a year now. Here you go, hun. x

In the city of Acongojar you had three ways to survive. Option A, be someone above the rest, the one in the million, or to simplify it - be extremely rich so you can protect and buy yourself out of sticky situations. Option B was to lay low and get used to the life of a no one, a shadow amongst the crowd, someone who knows what and who to stay away from, and a statistic when your time runs out.  
And for option C - well, I'm sure you'd all guessed it by now- be able to aim a weapon or twist a knife without remorse.

Only one of these was optional, the others all given. Figure which one.  
-

The night was chilly as the cold wind swirled through the abandoned streets, flipping plastic bags down the road. Leaves were crunching beneath the only man's feet that dared to be outside at an ungodly hour like this. 3AM what a mystical number.... When all the spirits and demons allegedly roam around, playing and trying to spook the humans every once in a while.

Well, Evan wasn't scared of magical creatures nor the looming presence of paranoia that crept in the back of his mind. He'd lived in Acongojar ever since he knew his name, so he pretty much had the backstreets of his part of town memorised by now. He was aware of the gang territories along with the safe routes. These late night walks of his were dangerous -he didn't have to be reminded, thanks Brock- yet he never gave a damn. Apart from his few close friends he had nothing to lose hence why his careless attitude. He cared about his boys, though, he really did - just living in fear, boxed between four walls wasn't his thing.

It would've driven him _delirious._

Barking of stray dogs, chasing cats snapped Evan out of his thoughts. The animals almost knocked him over as they flew past him, making him reconsider his next turn. He shook his head straightened his back and kept on walking. _Have some composure, hold your posture,_ he reminded himself as he stuffed his right hand into his coat pocket twisting his tiny penknife -hey, better than nothing- , no longer amused of the faint gunshots from afar. Probably a family quarrel - he noted then spotted a faint light shining from a window above. Strange, nobody lived there -

A muffled thump that only those could hear who really listened, and the light went out. He never stalled before so why couldn't he move his legs? Something wasn't letting him so he stared at the broken glass for a few minutes too long. And between the shards he locked eyes with someone. Nothing but a stoic gaze that could cut through him, held eye-contact if only for a split second it was there, Evan swore to himself that he saw them.

Police sirens neared the alleyway and Evan did what his first instinct told him to do: he ran.

~  
"Oh my - Evan, are you okay?" Brock, the raven haired boy's roommate was up in his face the second he'd stepped over the threshold.

Brock looked concerned as he eyed the heaving Evan for any injuries, hands on his shoulders. The latter's back was flush against the door, chest rising and falling rapidly from his speed run. Speaking of which, Evan still couldn't comprehend why he decided to do that. He'd witnessed his fair share of crime - in the city of delinquency and grime-, to say the least, and this time he just accidentally locked eyes with someone... Or something.

Yeah, it was very likely just his imagination. _Right._

"What happened? And why were you running? Was someone chasing you?" Brock pried, after his roommate just shrugged with a quick 'I'm fine, don't worry about it' and stepped out of his hold. "Evan, did someone attack you?"

Evan, without a care in the world flopped down on a couch and let out a sigh, meeting his friend's eyes who took a seat beside him in the meantime.

A fake smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he spoke. "Relax. I just decided to jog home. It was cold outside, no big deal."

Brock shook his head with a raised eyebrow and a disapproving look. "Like I'm gonna believe that..." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Aren't you working tomorrow?"

It was Evan's time to shake his head. "Not on Mondays. Not anymore."

"Cool."

And that was that. Brock didn't approve of the slightly younger boy's antics, his late night wandering disconcerted him the most, but he never stopped him. He wasn't his mother after all and nor was Evan a child. He was a grown man who had a right to make his own decisions.

However, he wasn't always in the right mindset to do so. Like how he straight up walked back to the forlorn house on the corner of Ángel street in hopes of finding those pair of eyes there once again within twenty-four hours after his first visit.

Truth to be told, the life that Evan lived was empty and monotonic. An office job and the same four friends to talk to every once in a while wasn't his cup of tea after three whole years of its repetition. Don't get him wrong, he loved Brock with his mother like personality, and his co-worker Brian -Brock's crush but he'd never admit that- wasn't half bad either, not to mention the overly enthusiastic Craig who didn't know how to shut his mouth but was fun to hang out with nonetheless. But now, Evan needed something new, something refreshing that would spice up his time being.

In any way soever, as crazy as it sounds - even in a city like this- Evan was bored and ready for some sort of adventure. And that adventure happened to be in a sketchy part of town with a possible stalker involved.

_Great._

Too deep in thought, Evan didn't seem to acknowledge the quiet footsteps closing in on him. Two pairs of boots, maybe three, slowly but surely grazed the concrete, making the hairs on the boy's arms stand up.

Chilly wind nipped at his skin as he didn't dare move.

And when a frosty metal was pressed against the side of his head, he flinched, blood running cold, heart rate picking up. Without further ado, Evan rose his hands up in surrender, limbs trembling from the unnecessary trouble that he'd managed to get himself into.

"And who do we have here?" A tall man in a worn-out burgundy jacket stepped in front of him, a huge 'C' on his green beanie and matching bandana that covered the lower part of his face.

 _The Cocodrilos_ , Evan pondered over the name and their usual hideouts. This wasn't their territory, it was an open space, a legal property of Acongojar so what brought them there?

Since the raven haired boy did not elaborate, the barell of the pistol was pushed deeper into his skin as a different voice spoke up from beside him with a huff. "T, why don't we just get this over and done with?"

The man towering over Evan crossed his arms with a shake of his head and ran his fingers down his own gun in its holster.

"This brat couldn't have killed him." He stated, fierce blue eyes studying him in disdain. "He couldn't hurt a fly."

Although, Evan really wanted to deny that - he was a hockey player for years after all- he figured it wasn't the best time to act like a smartass. So instead of replying to that remark he stayed silent and waited until he was adressed once again.

"He is still somewhat a witness." The guy who had him at gunpoint reasoned, finger steadily on the trigger.

"I-" Evan's voice quivered when the tall gang member fixed his gaze on him once more. "I was just walking by, I didn't see a thing."

Way to bee confident... The Canasian thought, bracing himself for the inevitable. What were they accusing him of anyways? A murder? When? Where?

"Is that so?"

Evan gave them a curt nod, praying that he was still at home in bed having a nightmare and that he'd soon wake the hell up.

"He is lying, T." Gunman whined, dragging the pistol down towards Evan's ear and then back up.

"You're right. Sh-"

Before the six foot something giant could finish his command the pistol flew out of his ally's hand, and a knife whizzed past his own head. He immediately reached for his revolver, not ready for another one, yet out of nowhere it came and pierced through his right shoulder. 'T' cried out in pain, stumbling backwards he almost fell onto his bottom, dropping the weapon. The other now also defenceless thug reached for his handgun to face whoever injured his partner.

Evan, shocked from the events but street-smart enough, took the opportunity and stepped back away from his attackers. A flash of black pushed past him a hand shoving him away from the scene. The new figure kicked the gun further away from the Cocodrilo, punching him in the stomach as the other man tried to get his act together and defend the two of them.

"Run!" His saviour shouted, delivering a right hook to the still barely touched criminal, not even looking back at Evan.

His senses must've been extremely sensitive since when 'T' charged at him after he'd removed the knife from his flesh with a grunt, he dodged it with ease, slamming the other to the brick wall of the alley. Even though both of them looked more built and were clearly taller than him, he seemed to be more skilled as he moved agily like a feline.

And poor innocent Evan just stood there staring at the scene. He couldn't look away, it was like a car crash- you don't want to watch but you can't help it.

Now he caught a glimpse of a white hockey mask underneath that black hoodie. Who was this guy? He couldn't have belonged to a gang be-

When 'T' ran into a wall, clearly losing too much blood, the masked man sprinted towards Evan and grabbed him by the arm to drag him away.

"Run, goddammit!" He cried, running with him for a few seconds to make sure Evan was not turning back, then took a sharp turn and disappeared for good in a blind path.

Evan didn't have time to look back, though, not until he was back on a busy square to catch his breath.

That did not just happen.


	2. Talk to Me

"Y-you didn't tell me he was a fucking Cocodrilo!" The masked man shouted, pacing in his best friend's flat - who was also his middleman, a moderator if you will.

Cartoonz is what he went by whenever he got contacts for his 'customer' Delirious. They were a dinamic duo with the latter doing the dirty work and the former the research. Who am I kidding? Delirious was a lone wolf, always had been and when his brother from another mother found out about his new career he had to intervene. They'd known each other since their teenage years so Cartoonz couldn't just let his boy risk his life every day. Not alone at least, not entirely on his own.

"Maybe because I didn't know he was one?"

Cartoonz clicked away on his computer, not paying too much mind to the distressed assassin in front of him. He tried to retrace some tracks before he explained himself.

"Fuck sakes." Delirious threw his mask onto the floor with a sigh and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Now those fuckers are after me."

He truly despised his friend when he wasn't in the center of his attention, especially in a life or death situation like this.

Now Cartoonz had to pause. He looked up from his typing to meet his friend's hollow eyes. Some sleep would do him good, he noted. Maybe therapy, too...

"How? Don't tell me you didn't clean up after yourself or did something stupid. I know that we've agreed on a 'no gang rule' but if those bastards don't know it was you then we're alright." He tried to sound reassuring, he really did.

Eyebrows knotted together Delirious gaped at his contact-man. "What do you mean clean up? I always leave the bounties where I- where I finsihed them off. This way they know the job's done."

Cartoonz nodded and clarified. "Yes, but I wasn't talking about that. Did you leave your signature around again?" His tone held a bit of concern mixed with vailed disappointment.

The assassin was known to be reckless back in the day. He used to carve his name into the floor or into a wall near his victims. That's how he became infamous in town.

Delirious' eyes widened in a disbelieving way, hurt flashing on his features only for a split second. Even though, he was fantastic at hiding his emotions, in front of his best friend it was hard to contain them. His pokerface not always worked properly.

"What? No. I don't do that anymore. I haven't done that since 2013 or some shit." Delirious dismissed.

Cartoonz knew that, he just had to make sure. "Why are you acting like this is the end of the world? No one knows it was you." A small pause. "Or do they?"

The cat had to be out of the bag soon since Delirious wasn't a man of patience and Cartoonz was really grinding his gears with his first silent then now this somewhat inquisitive treatment. Was it that hard to just tell him what he wanted to hear? Why did he have to be the one who needed to explain himself all the time?

"They saw me today. Two of their goons patrolled around Ángel street when I was just dropping by to make sure your little client took care of everything."

The other man eyed him carefully. He slowly dragged out his next sentence as if he were talking to an infant. "They. Saw. You? An assassin of ten years? Couldn't you find a roof to hide on? God..." Cartoonz pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing through it slowly.

"No it's not what you're thinking. They didn't see me from my  
vantage point." Delirious shook his head and twisted one of his favorite butterfly knives in his right hand. "They saw me when I dropped down"

This was the point when enemy of his, or just a simple stranger would've started to panic. He was right handed after all, and he loved to throw any knife around. Besides, a 9/10 aim intimidated the most.

"Jay, talk to me." The bearded man begged eyes fully away from his screen now. "What have you done?"

A deep breath and. "The dudes attacked another dude, I had to step in."

Cartoonz looked at him skeptically, this was a joke right. Now where's the punchline? 

"Since when did you start caring about anyone in danger. You are the danger, Delirious."

Navy blue eyes met mocha ones.  
"Don't say that. I'm only doing it for the money, I ain't no serial killer."

Cartoonz realising his mistake, carefully emerged from his seat, tabs on his computer closed and the device shut down. He cautiosly made his way over to his best friend, stopping at a respective space away from the other man.

"I'm so sorry, Jon, I didn't -"

With a hand held up Delirious glared at the brown-eyed man, and just above a whisper spat. "Don't."

He hated it whenever someone used his real name. Being overly paranoid combined with raging trust issues he just couldn't let that happen. Even though, only Cartoonz knew his full legal name, nowadays he felt as if he wasn't the only one. He had a strong suspicion about the man maybe - accidentally or not- spilling his first name to his partner.

Speaking of which, Delirious still couldn't wrap his mind around the carelessness of his best friend. About a year or so earlier the assassin came over to his for a quick visit to talk about his next target. Whilst he climbed through the window, like he always did, he could hear an unfamiliar voice mixed in with Cartoonz'. For someone who was known to be sneaky he sure as hell wasn't when he accidentally knocked over a lamp which caused his first meeting with the other man's new boyfriend. The introductions were fast, both man thanked the heavens, one for wearing his mask, and the other for Ohm being so understanding.

Till this day Delirious blamed Cartoonz for this and for not locking that damn window.

"Anyways." Jon dropped the conversation as soon as it came up, not really keen on listening to another apology. "This might be the right time to tell me why you didn't say a word about that dude being a part of one of the nastiest gangs of this bloody town, _Luke_." His tone held weariness, the use of his friend's real name implied mock.

Luke dug his fingers into his palm to maintain his calmness. "I had no idea, I told you. But now I found out that the kid was one of their rookies, and you know that it's almost impossible to get info about their recruits. So yeah, maybe that's why people wanted him gone. That gang has more than enough members as it is."

Made sense, it really did, Delirious had to admit that. However, he still didn't like the fact how he broke his second work rule of the three he religiously went by.

Cartoonz continued. "You think they want to find you or something? Talk to me, man. I can get you a new apartment if that's what you're afraid of."

"No, that's not necessary. No one knows where I live nor how I look like. I have nothing to be afraid of." With that he turned around, slipping his mask back on. "Later." And hopped through the window, onto a balcony and down to the ground.

The assassin had no problems with landings before but now his ankles hurt from the odd angle of the drop - at least it wasn't bad on the knees like a superhero landing. Something was off... He shook the pain off and started to trot down the empty street, form barely visible in the shadows. Hands tracing the brick walls he made his way down the west side of the city, soon close to his apartment building. He found his usual ladder in the back and climbed up to his window to enter.

~  
Laying in bed, windows and doors locked and barricaded he couldn't drift off. Delirious hadn't been able to have a good night's sleep ever since he chose his current lifestyle so it was no suprise he was still counting the cracks on the ceiling. He should look for a new place, he really should. But then again he felt safe here so why would he? He hated changes so there was no point in working himself up over this.

One thing couldn't escape his mind, though. The reason why he saved - he had to cringe at the word and wrinkle his nose-, scratch that, distracted those criminals so an innocent soul could flee and live. He just straight up spared a life, for crying out loud. This wasn't him. Was he finally changing? Surely not. That boy in his mid-twenties could've been one of his own and he'd never know. Let's be real he wasn't, Delirious would've been able to detect that after his years of experience.

Was he a beginner? He wondered. That would explain his appearance the day before. Mayhaps he was scanning the area as a new-fledged cop...

Delirious made a mental note not to take on jobs around Ángel street ever again.


	3. Not So Sneaky

To Evan's luck, Brock was already asleep when he got back to their apartment and he was also gone in the morning before the Asian roused. To say he was shaken up from the previous day's events was an understatement. As he made his way over to his desk in the office he gripped his files tighter, nodding towards the other employees as a greeting.

Once seated, he turned on his computer and logged into his account to start working. His desk-mate - if you will- hadn't arrived yet and Brian's shift only started in the afternoon. The case he'd been working on was rather flat and tiresome. A clock loudly ticked in the background as impromptu phone calls interrupted the almost silent room every now and again.

No wonder Evan's thoughts slowly but surely strayed. He couldn't help but brood on who the hell his saviour was and how on earth he got so lucky that he happened to be there then. 

Maybe he could ask around? No, that's not a good idea. If he'd ask Brock or any of his friends they would put two and two together and were one hundred percent going to freak out and start interrogating him about his encounter with the man. He didn't want them to worry about him. There was no point. Fate decided that it wasn't his time to go after all.

**_Not yet at least._ **

Google it is then. Incognito mode was a gift that kept giving. However, he couldn't use that on his computer since his boss would still see his activity on the server. The boy didn't plan on causing any suspicion so after he made sure everyone was busy, he slowly whipped out his phone to use that for his little research instead.

'Masked man of Acongojar' he typed in, hoping to find him, but deep down thinking there was no way he would. Surely if he hadn't heard of him the internet society wasn't keeping tabs on him, right?

What came up after he'd tapped search beyond suprised him. Not only there were pictures and forum discussions about masked men of his city - mainly gangs, though - but some rather blurry images of the guy Evan was looking for. He was dressed up in all black, hood over his head, body in motion, yet still recognisable from his dirty white mask with red stripes. As Evan's fingers hovered over the picture, somebody cleared their throat behind him.

"Hey, Evan." A smooth voice that he knew too well greeted him, body now in his peripheral vision. "Doing some extra research?"

Evan quickly locked his phone and turned to face Ryan. The latter flopped down in his respective chair and switched on his computer, getting ready to work. To state they were friends was an exaggeration. The two of them got along pretty well, but neither tried to seek the other's company outside the office building and that was just fine for the both of them. At least they weren't stuck with a blabbermouth or an absolute weasel for a close proximity coworker.

"No, I just took a break actually. To catch up on some news." Evan told him, trying to play it cool with a shrug and a bitter chuckle. 

Ryan nodded, focus on his monitor screen. "You found anything interesting?"

"No just the usual. Crime upon crime." Evan shrugged and faced his own papers once more.

And somehow he did not catch the muttered words from his co-worker. "If you say so."

~

"Luke, there's a guy at my work place-"

"I don't like where this is going." Cartoonz sat cross-legged from accross his boyfriend on a couch as the other paced around in the living-room. 

Delirious stood near the window, ready to peace the scene in case he got bored or disgusted by the couple's sickly cute behavior. He in fact, did not want to be there but Luke's other half insisted on it. _This better be worth the wait..._ He thought.

"Toonzy, it's not what you're thinking." Ohm giggled and sat down next to him, some of the tension easing from him, yet hands still tapping on the leather furniture. 

He was in a jittery mood, altogether not fully comfortable around the assassin. The topic of this abrupt meeting didn't make it easier for him to do so either.

"Good." The bearded man -oh how proud Cartoonz was abouth his well-kept facial hair- pecked the brunette's cheek and eyed him carefully. "What is it then?"

Delirious rolled his eyes, arms folded over his chest. He wanted to get the fuck out of there. Human contact and affection? 

Eww.

"When I got in today I saw him looking up" he lowered his voice and casted a wary glance at Jonathan "Delirious on Google. I've never thought that he could be involved in any, uh, criminal activity before. But maybe he got mixed up in something now, I'm not too sure."

Luke’s protective side started to show as he shifted closer to Ohm. "Do you think he might be a threat? Are you in danger, babe?" His dark gaze met his best friend's behind his mask - yes Delirious still didn't trust Ohm enough to reveal himself to him- and caressed his boyfriend's cheek to calm him a little.

Delirious probably never will show himself to the 'intruder' (as he'd liked to call him) to be quite frank. 

Ohm shook his head with a collected smile. "No he is like the calmest person I know, but even the best of us can hold serious grudges. It's a possibility that he or more like a friend of his wants to hire" he beckoned towards Jon "him."

Delirious shook his head and tried to word his say cautiously, not to speak too much around the -in his eyes- untrustworthy man. Even his voice was something that he desperately tried to hide.

"In that case he wouldn't be looking me up on Google, trust me." 

Luke agreed with him, this dude was an amateur. Most likely just a nosy townsman who got curious about the bad boys in his city. He talked it through with the guys and warned both of them to keep an eye out for him.

"So what did you say about his appearance again?" The moderator needed some details about the man before he let his boyfriend anywhere near him. 

"Asian, around 5'8'' maybe 9", nice style and a sharp jaw-line." Ohm hummed then added. "Hot in general."

Cartoonz narrowed his eyes at that comment and shot a glare at his best friend. Delirious cocked an eyebrow like, come on how was this his fault?

"We'll see how he'll look with a generous sum on his head." Was the sentence that'd never got spoken yet popped up in Luke's head.

~  
"I'm telling you, Ev. He totally has the hots for me he just doesn't know it yet." Craig enthused, shoving a single French fry into his mouth afterwards. 

Evan finally brought himself to drag his body down to the cafeteria and let his friend join him. Craig worked a floor above him for the same company in the tech department with Brock. That's how their little group formed in the first place - Evan knew Brian from his floor and was Brock's room-mate. However, the aforementioned man nor their fourth musketeer was nowhere to be seen so it was just the both of them.

"Totally." Evan's tone lacked its usual sarcasm as he spoke with a smile. "So what's his name?"

"Tyler. He's a new guy. Marcel calls him T-dawg. It's weird." He laughed and pushed his glasses back a little. "T sound alright, though, I think." 

'T'?

This must be a coincidence, there's no way it's the guy who'd attacked him. Evan reassured himself- there are so many people whose name starts with a T, like Tim, Tom, Ted, Todd? Plus there was no way someone in a gang went by their real name. Then again, in this city you could never entirely know when you were without a doubt out of harms. Evan started to regret his trip to a possible crime scene.

He took a sip from his water before he asked. "Don't you think it's odd that he started on Tuesday?" 

Craig only shrugged, not too bothered by this. "I heard there were some problems with his contract. Explains a lot."

It really did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's slowly building up I swear. In the next chapter you'll see.


	4. Death wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be updating this every Monday and Friday from now on. Thanks for the sweet comments, I really do appreciate them :)

Two weeks had passed since the incident and Evan was itching to do something. He no longer had the idea of him being followed, those gang members most likely didn't care that he got away after all. He met this Tyler guy of Craig's, who was indeed a bit impulsive - with piercing blue eyes too- but rather the all talk no action type so, he could in a way find peace.

The rush of adrenaline that flowed through his body that night haunted his dreams, though. Not a single day went by without that guy popping up in his head, he felt a strange craving to try and find him. He came to the conclusion that he had to repay this masked man's favour. Evan was never the type to take life for granted and now that his own was almost taken away from him, he tried to appreciate it more by spicing it up - a weird way of coping if you ask me, but that's Evan for you... He desperately wanted to thank the one who was responsible for this change, for his deed of valour whatever it took and if it meant visiting the shadier parts of town, then so be it -he thought. 

So there he was walking down an old trodden path between two rickety houses for the second time that week. Rumor had it that these rusty (once) homes were occupied by crackheads most of the time but now they seemed empty as no sound came out and the lights were off. Evan shivered when one of the gates creaked, he could see movement from the corner of his eyes he could've sworn. Turning around to inspect the situation he spotted a red Persian cat swaying its tail in the air as it walked further away from him. _Thank god,_ he released a relieved puff of air and continued his journey deeper into the cranky area.

Beaten cars with deflated tyres, broken windows and graffitied doors were parked some on the sidewalk, some beside it but still balking. No passerbies strolled about even though it was only seven in the evening. However, Evan didn't mind that, in a twisted way it felt peaceful to be alone even in a place like this. Aimlessly wandering around was freeing, he could see the beauty in the barely standing buildings. He wondered how they looked when they were built, in their original glory, and how much time and negligence could change something. 

On the bark of a tree there hung a wanted poster of a woman in skimpy clothes, the photo probably taken from a mugshot. Her name was crossed out with a sharpie and '100'$ was written underneath it.

"I wouldn't try to find her if I were you." A deep voice came from behind him, making Evan stiffen and freeze in place.

It was far away enough so he didn't worry that much about being stabbed from behind. Playing it off seemed the best option here...

He slid his hands further into his jacket pocket and tried to sound self-assured as he spoke, not moving an inch from his spot. "Why's that so?"

"Because she's already dead." The answer was so nonchalant he had to seek a glance at the speaker.

He would have to turn his a bit more to actually see something, he noted.

"How do you know that? Did you-?"

The man snickered, making Evan stop his enquiry. "No of course not. I don't kill for pocket change."

That insane cackle that followed inclined Evan to glance over his shoulder. Then when he caught a glimpse of creamy white he couldn't help himself but do a 180 turn. His saviour sat atop a fence, legs dangling down yet not grazing the ground.

"It's you." Evan breathed happy that he didn't have to resume his two hour walk and also that he really did manage to find him. 

As if the masked man could read his mind he shook his head and jumped down from his seat. "When they think they found you, but in reality you'd found them a long time ago." He let out a low chuckle as he pocketed his hands whilst turning his back on him. "~I was behind you the whole time~." He sang into the quiet night as he skipped further away from the raven haired boy.

"Hold on." Evan picked up speed to catch up to him, heart beating rapidly from the mix of excitement and a dram of impatience. 

He couldn't let him get away, not after all this.

The hand that he extended to gently grab the man in all black to stop him was yanked within a second. Evan felt a sting of pain rush through the limb as it got twisted and pressed against his back, the masked man directly behind him in no time. He pushed Evan forwards, forcing him to walk until they came to a halt in an alley. 

Yeah okay, maybe he shouldn't have done that... He might've walked straight into a death-trap. 

"You don't want to be seen with me."  
He murmured, tone nowhere near menacing as it was earlier.

Instead of trying to free himself, Evan asked the first question that popped up in his mind. "Are you actually called Delirious?" 

Evan found that snippet of info on one of the forums he'd browsed through. And if the myths were true about **_Delirious_** , all the _casualties_ that stained his hands... His reflexes were on point the honey-eyed boy had experienced that at first hand and his agility was also impressive. He really shouldn't be here.

Officially out of plain sight Evan found himself pressed against a wall, grip tightening on his arm. A gloved hand rested on the cold surface for support above his head. 

His captor leaned closer to him and directly whispered into his ear with a chuckle. "You've done your homework. Congrats."

Delirious let go of him with one last push, leaving him time to turn around and face him. 

As he slowly spun around he came face to face with the other man, chests almost touching. Even in the poor lighting Evan could adore the sea colored irises of Delirious. He was sure if he'd stare for long enough he could drown in them. He also noticed that the other man was barely taller than him, maybe even less than an inch. 

Gaping always annoyed Delirious, besides he didn't have time for this anyways so he gave Evan a quick once over and with finality to his voice admonished him then took a step back. "Don't try to find me."

Before he could turn the corner, hand on a wall to make the passing faster, Evan, truly out of his mind, called after him. "Wait!"

Delirious clicked his tongue and slapped the brick wall. "Do yo-you.. Seriously have a death wish?"

Evan quickly shook his head, the absurdity of the situation slowly sinking in. He was talking to a goddamned hitman. He should be thankful for him leaving just like that. Now that he remembered -

"No. Just, I- uh, I wanted to thank you."

Delirious slowly nodded and mumbled an oh so-silent "Don't." before he disappeared into the night.

Or at least that's what Evan thought.

The Canasian walked home still not entirely satisfied with how things turned out. His puzzle was still missing a piece, he might'd found it but he let it go just like that. 

What was he thinking? Making friends with an assassin? A serial killer even. He was going insane and he didn't even try to hide it anymore. In his defence, he hated the misery that his life had become, but this, this was something else. How did that saying go? The best of us can find happiness in misery- well, certainly not Evan... Like an invisible force was attracting him to danger to the ticking bomb that the other man seemed to be. Delirious was beyond mysterious and the thrill of being in his presence excited him more than any ordinary person ever could.

He should download a dating app. Definitely.


	5. Not Stalking

Delirious didn't want to follow Evan home, he didn't plan on doing so not this time at least. However, tracking him down was as easy as pie. The man wasn't the most silent type, the assassin found it amusing how predictable he turned out to be. 

What you really thought he appeared behind Evan out of coincidence? Absolutely not. The latter wasn't the only one with unanswered questions. Jonathan had to make sure no one was trying to go after him so after Ohm's quick visit he followed him to work the next morning. But that story is for later to tell.

So back to the present, Evan hurried down the vacant streets of downtown, mind far away from the mundane world. He was so caught up in his own head he didn't notice the pair of eyes fixed on him the whole way. It wouldn't had been easy to do that to be fair. Delirious was like a shadow, a ghost that blended into the darkness like he belonged there from the get go. 

He made sure that no one got in the way of the eccentric man, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, feet never juddering and giving away beneath him. 

Promising Cartoonz to lay low had been hard but he'd found a way to cope. If he couldn't do his job by getting rid of the sinners of this town for generous amounts, then might as well look out for someone, he reasoned with his troubled soul. And every time he had to second guess himself about this decision, he remembered what he first thought about the guy. A possible threat so he better watch out for him.

Right.

So for a whole week he didn't do much just hang around in town and tried to blend in with the others. He even went grocery shopping and cleaned his apartment properly for the first time in years. His new hobby was to -with his words- 'keep an eye on' Evan every second day, because the word 'stalking' left a bad taste in his mouth. Besides he was not stalking him. He made sure he was alright and that required going to his work place or apartment. There were no snapshots of him in the shower or watching him from outside his window. God no. Delirious was not a pervert, more like a guardian angel if anything...

In any way soever, It wasn't difficult to learn the boy's full name, especially since Ohm liked to forget that he shouldn't throw around names like that in the presence of an assassin. Evan Fong, intriguing indeed.

It fascinated Delirious how he did his everyday routine in such an inattentive way. He left his apartment building at 8:30 sharp every weekday except for Monday. Got on the subway then sat through eight hours of boring as hell paperwork or website development just to head home and start it all over again the next day. 

Delirious wondered how he managed to stay sane. 

~  
On Friday night he was bored and decided to check on his entertainment source. He climbed the ladder of the building accross from Evan's place and knelt down in his usual spot. Whipping out binoculars he propped himself up on his elbows, upper arm laid atop the ledge of the roof. He knew that he should be home by now so he just wanted to check if his lights were on.

They -as expected- were, and on the balcony sat two aliens clinking glasses with the Evan and his room-mate/ partner - Delirious was not too sure who yet. So Evan had company around, the assassin noted and started studying the other two men present. 

It must be nice to have friends, he thought. He could see himself get along with these guys if he used his imagination hard enough. With a quick shake of his head he snapped himself out of his little fantasy. No, definitely not. Human interaction had been out of the picture ever since he devoted his life to murder for money. 

As he was about to retreat and climb back down to mind his own business, his phone started buzzing in his pocket. Sitting down on his heels, fully covered by the building itself he answered the incoming call.

"What?" He asked in a low tone to make sure he stayed unnoticed. 

"Nice to hear from you, too." Luke chuckled, smile visible in his voice. "Where are you?"

Delirious lifted his gaze up to the sky in feigned annoyance. "Out." Curt as always.

"I figured since you are not in your shithole of an apartment." Came the answer in a teasing way. "Seriously Jon, when are you getting a new one? You are literally full of stacks and-"

Delirious wasn't in the mood for this so with a deep sigh he interrupted his best friend. "Why are you there?"

He heard shuffling from the other end of the conversation then a hum of contemplation. "To check on your sorry ass. I haven't heard from you in ages and it's still light outside so I thought you'd surely be home. Also why do you have papers of different dudes lyin' around on your desk? Some of them are fine, if you know what I'm sayin'..." 

"Cartoonz, point." Delirious was getting frustrated by the second, a bit mad at his friend for snooping around and entering his home uninvited.

Meanwhile he changed his sitting position to a cross-legged one, leaning against the wall, eyes closed briefly.

"I may have a new task for you."

~  
"Why on earth would anyone choose 'Dead Squirrel' as a street name?" Delirious scoffed as he flipped through the data about his next target. 

His lips were pulled into a frown whilst he read through the lines quickly, brain already making up ways to eliminate this guy.

"I mean he should've been called just Squirrel so after you are done his whole name would actually make sense." Cartoonz shrugged with a short laugh when Jonathan just face palmed at his comment. "Anyway, he is apparently the upcoming CTO of Ave Corp." 

Delirious flashed a half smirk at his best friend and chuckled. "Well, at least he was supposed to be."

Luke nodded at the other man with a proud grin on his own. "You don't even know what impact you'll have on some people in his inner circle."

The assassin knotted his eyebrows in confusion. This was getting fishy, Cartoonz never said shit like that. He liked to keep the commissions simple no unnecessary talk about how the victim's death would affect the others around them. Luke received the offers and passed it on to Delirious to take it or refuse the hire. That's what they'd agreed on back in the day. Jonathan didn't have to know things that he did not want to.

Hang on, he'd seen that name somewhere before...

"Isn't that where Ev-" Mid-realisation Delirious bit back his words. Thinking aloud once again didn't seem to be the best thing he could do.

He couldn't let that name slip out of his mouth. God, he almost blew his cover, the only thing that he truly kept to himself. 

"Who's Ev?" Luke’s tone turned serious, facial expression inquiring.

Jonathan bit his lower lip swallowing hard as he slipped his hands into his back pocket.

"N-no one. I- I just wanted to ask you isn't that where _everyone_ works, as in a lot of people..." He paused. Then it clicked. " Including Ohm?"

The bearded man's eyes snapped up to meet his, emotions unreadable.

"How do you know that?" Emphasis on the pronoun thick.

Delirious shrugged. If Luke was playing that game so was he. 

"I have my ways."

Cartoonz took a step closer to him and pointed an accusing finger at his chest. "Why do you know that?"

The assassin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Because I had to make sure he was - he was okay, duh." That came out lamer than he'd intended but Delirious wasn't someone who couldn't roll with a small slip up like this.

"Okay?" The contact-man dropped his finger and crossed his arms over his chest, voice rising at the last syllable. 

He shouldn't get too carried away around him. He knew that his best friend would never touch someone he loved.

But still...

"God, Delirious, you and your trust issues..." He sighed

Blue eyes squinted angrily at brown, Jonathan just shook his head with a disbelieving huff. "Well, excuse me for not trusting a complete outsider with a job like mine."

Luke pushed his fury fully aside and let his friend cool down as he walked back to his computer for more papers. 

"Forget it." He said and handed him a folder. "Just do the deed as always."

Jon snatched it from him and put it under his arm. He slipped his mask back on, but before he could make his escape Luke spoke up.

"This one is dangerous. Make sure that you read through all of his info. He has a high-tech security system planted at home and a bodyguard at work... Please don't rush it, Jon." The way those words left his mouth with precisely concealed worry Delirious couldn't help but smile at his idiot of a partner in crime. 

Although he never said it, he cared and that's all that mattered.

"Will do." The assassin nodded and made his exit through the back window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing against Squirrel, he seems like a great guy but we all know that Evan's jealous at him, so... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	6. Eye Candy

"You heard that Joe whoever-the-fuck-his-last-name-is getting promoted?" Brian stirred his coffee, whispering above the hot beverage in the firm's cafeteria.

Evan blinked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Since when do you want to talk about work with me?"

The brunette shrugged his shoulders and took a sip from his latte. "I don't. I just find it odd that's all. He may become a CTO at the age of 19. Like come on now, how crazy is that?"

"You totally sounded like a teenage girl just then." Evan chuckled and put his cutlery down onto his plate.

The Irishman rolled his eyes. "Fock off."

Honey eyes glanced around the room for any superiors then settled back on his companion. "Honestly, I'm not that surprised. His dad was the one who got me a job here in the first place. Besides, the kid has potential, I'll be happy for him if he secures the position."

Brian slowly nodded understandingly and asked. "You know him?"

"Yeah."

So that was that. They moved on from the topic, neither of them having seconds thoughts about it. Evan couldn't care less about a new CTO at that very moment when the only thing occupying his mind was a man with a hockey mask.

Delirious.

He didn't just save Evan he tracked him down and fucking warned him to stay away from the unsafe parts of the city. A hitman who, out of all people, chose him to watch over and possibly protect from afar. 

Evan felt the urge to find him again. He somehow craved his attention and made his destiny to get to know him. 

However, he had no idea how. He'd never had connections to the underworld so contacting him was out of the picture.

Unless-

"Brian, do I remember correctly that you have a friend who used to be in a gang?"

Blue eyes snapped up at him fast from his phone. "God, Evan don't exclaim stuff like this here..."

The latter shook his head with a small apologetic smile. "I was whispering."

"Whatever." Brian waved his hand at him then lowered his voice. "Yeah but why do you want to know that?"

_Shit._

"Um." Evan should've thought this through before he opened his mouth. "I was just wondering."

His excuse was far from believable so Brian didn't let him get away with this. He knew that the guy was reckless at times so he had to make sure that he wasn't about to do something utterly ridiculous. 

"Are you sure?" He pried.

Evan quickly nodded and stood from the table. "Shit, my lunch break is over. I gotta go. See ya, Brian."

~

When Evan got home that night he was met with a rather fidgety Brock at the kitchen table. He sat there one leg crossed over the other, fingers intertwined on his knee.

"A little bird told me or rather gave me the hint that you might be up to no good." The brunette sighed in the most omniscient tone he could pull off. "And I don't like that in one bit."

The younger of the duo pushed his mouth to the side in thought as he circled the table to sit across from his room-mate. 

Fucking Brian...

"What did Brian say to you?" Evan had to make calculated moves if he wanted to survive this battle of words that was about to hit him. 

"That you were interested in one of his old - acquaintances." Brock eyed him carefully. "An old gang member to be more exact." He clarified.

Evan slowly nodded with a shrug as he laid his palms atop the cold tabletop. "Yes because I just remembered that he knew someone dangerous and I - I wanted to make sure that he wasn't getting himself into a mess?" His explanation came out more like a question than anything.

Not like this matter to Brock, he was already prepared for whatever white lie his friend was going to come up with. Evan wasn't that stealthy as he'd liked to think he was being when he snuck out almost every night ever since they had had that weird conversation about his 'jog' at 3 am. He made sure to let him know that now.

"You should really enlighten me about your whereabouts at small hours, you know." Brock reached over to rest his hand on Evan's and squeezed. "I worry about you."

Evan's gaze didn't meet his as he slid his hand out from under his room-mate's. "I like to take walks and you know that. There's nothing to worry about, Moo." He finally flashed him a smile.

There it was, the nickname that always eased the other's anxiety at a certain extent. Evan was playing dirty now, but anything to drop the subject. 

"Evan, I just don't want you to get hurt." Kind eyes confessed, sad smile on Brock's lips. "I've lived in this city far too long not to suspect anything bad when I see someone act unusual."

Unequivocally arriving home out of breath and mentally exhausted didn't scream normal for the solicitous man. Nor did Evan's constant probing around wherever they went. 

"I met someone, okay?" Evan cringed at his own words as he rose to his feet. _Technically_ this was true. "That's why I keep disappearing. I didn't want to tell you just yet." Because he could potentially kill me the next time we cross paths. "Not until it - it turned serious." 

Lying through your teeth to your own best friend who never wanted anything but for you to be okay- good one Evan. He mentally scolded himself for doing such a thing, but there was no way in hell he would tell Brock about his accidental rendezvous with an assassin.

Especially since he - keyword- **tried** to initiate it the second time. And he was still desperately trying to arrange a third one.

"Okay. Okay, that's good." The corners of Brock's mouth turned upwards, eyes following Evan who discarded his bag in the meantime. "That still doesn't explain your sudden interest in thugs, though."

"I'm not interested in thugs." Evan hissed and stopped mid-undressing. He changed his mind about taking off his jacket. "Anyway, I'm actually meeting him in ten so I should go."

A foot out the door and Brock shouted after him. "Evan, you can't always run away from conflict. You'll have to face it one day!"

~

So where did assassin like to hang again? Rooftops; right.

Evan could recall a ladder that led to the top of the apartment building from across their one. He'd seen it multiple times in the distance but never wondered if he could be able to climb it.

He was, so he did. 

The build-up was higher than he'd expected and when he looked down from it, his courage quivered. However, since he didn't know any better solution, he carefully took a seat on the ledge, legs facing the city below. The sun had already dipped down over the horizon so the thought of someone spotting him up there never crossed his mind.

And the waiting game began.

~

Delirious was nearing his favorite spot to check on his 'subject'. Almost all the way up the roof, he couldn't take the last step, though, thanks to the sight before him. 

There sat a man in a dark leather jacket, looking down at the sleeping Acongojar underneath.

Instead of hoisting himself up Delirious held onto the metal railing and debated whether to go up or flee. He still had some errands to run - mostly procuration of gun oil and armor- so he didn't want to waste too much time here.

Before he could jump back down the figure turned to take a look over their shoulder. That's when he locked eyes with his eye candy himself.

Delirious could feel cold sweat on his temple. He'd never been caught red handed before, what a lousy assassin he'd become. 

Evan quickly jumped up, stance steady, posture inviting and upfront.

"It's you."

Delirious with a final push, hopped up onto the rooftop, pocket knife automatically twisted in his hand. 

"You came." Evan breathed with a smile, eyes only shifting at the blade when a street light glinted on it for a split second.

The assassin rose his eyebrows behind his mask in question and let the distance decrease between them until they were only a few feet apart. 

"What do you mean? You didn't like- summon me." He mumbled and reached out to touch a now shaking shoulder. "And now you are scared."

A lopsided sick smile danced on his lips, he couldn't fight the urge not to show that to Evan by lifting his mask just above his mouth. He flashed him pearly white teeth then covered his face once more.

The hand that had been resting on Evan's shoulder traced a line up his neck and stopped at his chin to cup it with gloved fingers. Not like the poor citizen hadn't been keeping eye-contact the whole time, Delirious tilted his head up so their eyes didn't cease away from one another. His skin felt smooth even through the knitted fabric, clean shaven, Jon observed.

"I could kill you right now and I have a feeling that you wouldn't try to stop me." Tone cold yet guarded, and his fingertips pressed down on the Canadian's chin.

Evan stood still, hands in his pants pockets and slowly shook his head as much the firm grip let him do so. "I'd try. But I don't think there would be any point."

Delirious chuckled at that conclusion and leisurely lifted his knife to be level with Evan's neck, he didn't press down on it, though. 

The latter's pupils dilated twice their size. He was no longer so sure of himself. Coming here in hopes of seing movement on other rooftops, helipads and whatnot, praying that it was the stranger who'd saved his life, no longer seemed rational. He had had this bizarre belief that Delirious could never hurt him and now in the verge of it all he let that fantasy go. The man was going to end his life then and there he was sure of it.

Deep in the corner of the night, stars were nowhere to he seen due to the smog that floated around the contaminated city. The temperature dropped below 30 °F making Evan shiver for yet another reason in his thin jacket - he should've worn a long-sleeved shirt underneath it, he noted. Car horns interrupted the silence every now and again in the far from busy block. 

"Just-" Evan felt the dull side of the cold blade graze his skin, teeth clattering, whole body trembling from fright. _Better remind him to make it quick..._ "If you want to kill me, do it now."

What was he talking about? Encouraging a skilled murderer to kill him... God, Evan didn't want to die just yet, he was only in his mid-twenties, he still had so much to live for. He got himself into this mess just for the thrill of it and now he felt regret seep through his bones.

A blinding flash of the blade and Delirious' knife was gone in the blink of an eye, hold no longer on Evan's chin. The assassin took a step back and folded his arms over his chest, weapon slipped into his pocket.

"What's the fun in that?" Delirious bounced on his heels a little.

He scanned their surroundings out of instinct or habit rather, aware of the possibility of someone witnessing the encounter. Evan, in a pure dumbfounded and confused state, didn't dare move nor speak so after a motorbike whizzed past below. Delirious was the one to break the silence. "Besides I have no intentions to do that."

Now that this slipped out he might as well vanish from the face of the earth. Delirious, you are being weak again, what are you doing? He almost slapped his cheek to beat some sense into himself and to get a grip. Despite those thoughts he didn't do that, since he had no aim to make himself more of a wuss in front of Evan. Plus he knew his punches were powerful - he'd learned that in the hard way but he would never admit that- no need for a concussion.

Obsidian colored locks fell over his eyes as Evan finally looked up, words just above a whisper when he spoke. "Then why are you here?"

A question that even Delirious himself didn't know the answer for. Trying to solve this caused him many sleepless nights but he could never come to a conclusion. What was so special about Evan that made him take an interest in him? 

Completely ignoring what his companion asked, the assassin huffed. "You ask too many questions."

"Sor-"

Delirious held a hand up to stop his apology and pretended to check his non-existent watch. The guns could wait, he had questions too after all. "Why are you so eager to see me?" He pursed his lips in anticipation. "What can someone like you benefit from meeting me?"

Evan's reply came faster than he'd intended as he rushed through his speech. "I want to learn ways to protect myself. And I thought you could teach me the basics since you are the best assassin in town." The perfectly practiced alibi rolled off his tongue like he was born to do this.

He'd had this prepared ever since he made it his mission to get in contact with the man.

Delirious rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh. "That's not happening."

Last time they met Evan had no conformation of who Delirious was and now he claimed to see him as the best - best what exactly? Murderer?

He was halfway down the ladder when Evan's legs managed to function again and he followed him.

"Just consider this please. And give me some kind of sign if you did."

The two locked gazes, Delirious' stare dead serious as he dropped down onto the ground. "Go home, kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit longer than normal, I hope y'all enjoyed it:)


	7. Ambush?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have to delay the next chapter since I'm abroad for a twenty øne piløts concert. I hope y'all enjoy this one nonetheless:)

"His security system is almost untouchable. I'm not sure if I can get in, Delirious." Cartoonz sighed from the other end of the line, his tone crystal clear in the assassin's earpiece. 

He liked to use the tiny gadged whenever he was on a mission and needed his best friend's help, but it also came in handy during his knife sharpening sessions. A swift wipe of the blade - _uh shiny_ \- with a cloth and Delirious slowly placed the dagger onto the table with a hum.

"Then I'll have to lure him out of there." He thought aloud, dabbing a towel in soapy water to clean his hands. 

"Not a good idea. I told you he had a bodyguard." Luke dragged out his sentence as he tapped down on his keyboard in the background. "Three actually." He clicked his tongue and drew in a slow, unsteady breath. "You should get your sniper back in action."

The assassin almost dropped his beloved switchblade that had his initials on its sapphire handle. He hadn't used a sniper in years and his best friend was aware of that too. Guns were never his go to instruments when it came to a stealth kill since he didn't trust himself to do things from afar. Apart from a few pistol take-downs with a silencer, he really disliked the idea of him and bullets, even though Cartoonz had declared that he had a deadeye. 

Three years prior Delirious accepted a job that's description contained a real assassination. He was supposed to take down an utterly corrupt town major but his plan backfired gradually. The price was too high to comprehend and the risk unbearable. Delirious wasn't qualified to do something so godlike; he was not some higher power who had the right to pull those strings. That job was the direct opposite of what he believed in. Killing someone who just made an enormous misjudgment by peer pressure, a wrong decision for his family's sake... It went against Delirious' morals. No wonder he misfired. Or rather didn't pull the trigger - everybody has a different recollection about that incident.

"Luke, I haven't used my sniper in years." He reminded him, snapping out of that old memory. "Furthermore, I have no clue where it is. I probably dumped it in a river or some shit."

He did. Sometimes he wondered where River Azul carried it... Along with the riddance of the weapon he took an oath not to accept something so speculative ever again.

A few seconds of contemplation and Luke came to a conclusion. "Well, then you better get a new one, bud."

The assassin stood up and assembled his arsenal to place each of them in their respective spot in padded boxes. 

"We'll see about that." He muttered under his breath, three knifes already closed off from the world. 

"It's five grand, Jon. And you've already accepted the job."

Delirious gave no fucks about the money anymore. Theoretically speaking of course, he didn't take on task below a couple of hundred bucks... Moving on, he didn't need that much but he knew that Cartoonz would appreciate that 35% from this one.

"Sure."

~

Evan got out of the shower after a long day of work. He dried his hair with a towel, only in a pair of sweatpants, torso still wet, eyes half-lidded. Reaching his window to draw the curtains for the night, he noticed something on the windowsill. It was a note secured with a pebble on top as a paperweight. 

As he slowly opened the window a cold breeze sent shivers down his spine - he should probably wear a shirt for sleep in February, he told himself. 

The paper was a bit crumpled, threadbare edges and messy handwriting but still legible. 

**Madera Park. 1 am.** It said.

Evan's mind instantly wandered onto the optimistic option here: Delirious actually reached out! However, he couldn't be sure and after that near death experience with him a few nights before he wanted to go prepared. Not to hurt the assassin - never- but in case he was being catfished here which was a high possibility. 

He managed to get his hands on a pistol.

On his way to the park he couldn't help but go through the probable scenarios for this meeting. For one, the one placing that paper on his window could've been Brock as a test to see if he'd fall for the bait and then he could question him. Evan's window was almost unreachable from the outside after all, - but then again it must've been no challenge for an assassin to get up there and plant the message-   
but he knew that his friend wasn't fond of his alleged relationship so... 

What's his name, Evan? What does he do for a living? When are you going to introduce him to us? Is he a ghost or something because I sure as hell hadn't seen him pick you up once... 

God, Brock, just leave a man alone, Evan didn't need this type of enquiry.

Back to his train of thought the latter walked over to a bench in the empty park half an hour earlier than he was supposed to. 

And then came the second problem. How was he going to find him? The area was vast, full of bushes and trees no significant monument or statue as a meeting-point.

Delirious had different concerns that night. He wrote the note in the heat of the moment after he'd got off the phone with Luke. A distraction was needed now more than ever and he climbed up onto Evan's balcony before he could change his mind.

However, he couldn't leave his paranoia behind. The thoughts of Evan being an undercover gang member, or more likely a cop were starting to surface. This could be an ambush as far as he knew. He should just kill him so he'd be erased for good and he wouldn't have to worry about him or the possible reason why he couldn't stop thinking about him. 

The thing is, Evan interested him. Something about his inconsiderate nature attracted Delirious to him. He respected how the man wanted to get out of his everyday hamster wheel, to detach himself from the rhythm that he'd been chaned to ever since he received a degree. Of course he didn't know the last part but he had an inkling that this was the case. 

Delirious considered himself to be a great observer - it came in the job description, he claimed- so reading people had never been a big deal to him. Most were like an open book, well except for Evan. He saw fire mixed with a hint of desperation in those honey eyes when he stated his will to learn so the assassin found himself mull over the idea of him being Evan's tutor.

In the sea of unanswered questions, one thing was sure. Evan craved a change, a massive breakthrough, and Delirious could also do with one. 

So he, with a slight delay, left his apartment to meet up with someone that he didn't trust. 

~  
Leaves crunched, and the wind moving branches around kept creating a whistle like sound.  
Evan had been waiting for about half an hour. Checking his phone for the time every once in a while, he sat patiently, a bit worried by the lack of pedestrians in the park. It was near the middle of the night so that was no suprise but still he could've done with some, since every time he heard a small noise he startled ever so slightly. Mostly birds and smaller rodents and other nocturnal animals moved up and about, he could detect an owl hooting in the distance.

"So you were bold enough to come."  
The voice that he'd only ever heard three times but was burned into his mind made Evan jump.

He thought his hearing senses were high, but damn was this man stealthy.

"And you are not my roommate." Evan replied in an unexpectedly calm tone as he swung his legs over the bench to face him. "Thought you'd never reach out."

Delirious was leaning against a tree not more than two feet away from him, mask tightly strapped onto his face, arms folded over his chest. The fucker looked smug even without his expression visible as he shook his head. 

_Roommate, huh?_ The assassin felt an odd relief wash over him that he couldn't quite comprehend. 

Weird.

"You are the one who blindly showed up." He shrugged, watchful eyes studying him from head to toe.

Evan didn't reply to that, small smile disappearing from his lips. The other man had a point.

"Stand up." Delirious ordered and Evan didn't have to think twice to oblige. 

They were now face to face, one intensely scanning the other for a snip of revelation of his features, and the other one searching for any sort of weaponry. 

The latter succeeded. "Raise your arms." Delirious' command caught Evan off guard he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

What was the point? What did he have to do that for?

"Why wou-?" 

Delirious flipped open a switchblade and twirled it between his fingers. "I wouldn't ask questions if I were you." He looked at the object in his hands as if he were checking his nails out of boredom.

This strange human was getting on his nerves. Jonathan didn't come here to wait around until someone spotted them together. 

Evan with an uncertain movement rose his arms, a line of toned skin appearing as his jacket was lifted. 

And there it was - bingo - a marksman pistol tucked into his jeans. 

Delirious alarmed from the sight -yes he saw the barrel but didn't actually think it was so carelessly placed- was up in his personal space within two huge steps and yanked the gun away from him. 

Evan shivered from the tought of the presumptive consequences. Delirious was going to bust a cap in him with his very own pistol. When did he become a pessimist again?

The masked man inspected the gun from up close chuckling to himself when he noticed that it wasn't loaded. What an amateur... Or was this the bait?

The undercover cop idea was thrown out the window then and there. A fledgling criminal was still an option.

"Where did you get this from?" Blue eyes drifted over the metal object once more then locked onto Evan's gaze. 

The guy was either an Oscar-worthy actor or he wasn't faking that scared look at all. Delirious didn't want to decide which one just yet.

The Canadian saw no reason to lie so he told him the truth with a shrug, hands wrapped around his torso due to the low temperature. "From a friend of a friend of mine."

A totally vulnerable stance - did he seriously trust the assasin?

Fair enough, Delirious thought, and nodded pocketing the taken treasure. He'll test him later.

"Let's go."

Before Evan could ask where, the man with the hoodie took off so the former couldn't do anything but follow.

This was going to be something else.


	8. Don't You Worry 'Bout Nothin'

The eastern side of the park lead to a forest out of town. When Evan realised that, ducking under a fallen trunk he came to a halt. Rationality wasn't one of his strong suits but he started to see clearer now. He was most likely walking to his death and it might've been the time to flee. Delirious could be taking him to the middle of nowhere with the intention of slitting his throat and dumping his lifeless body in the lake nearby. No matter that he'd said otherwise.

On the other hand, the assassin, without a care in the world, kept going weaving through trees glancing over his shoulder every once in a while. He stopped as soon as he felt the lack of movement behind him, though.

"Do you want to learn or not?" He sounded exasperated one hand holding a branch so it wouldn't flick back and poke his eyes out. "I-I don't have all day." Practically night but Delirious never cared about the right form of idoms.

Evan bit the inside of his cheek not sure what to do in this situation. His heart said keep going but his brain was screaming the opposite at him. 

_This was the adventure he was looking for, wasn't it?_

"Where are you taking me?" He eventually asked eyeing the masked boy before him.

Delirious hesitated for a moment pushing the branch he'd been holding a bit further up. "To kill you in the woods." He shrugged.

It was totally worth it for Evan's petrified expression but then he couldn't help but chuckle to ease the tension. "I would've done it by now. Besides I wouldn't have any benefit for doing so, so don't you worry 'bout nothin'." 

Evan kept quiet after that. He didn't want to give the assassin ideas, so he just nodded and followed him further into the forest.

Mockingbirds sang every now and again, sticks broke underneath their feet as they neared a clearing.

Delirious sat down on a stump, ankles crossed, hands on his knees.  
Only lit by the moon the scenery was beautiful. Fresh grass with dew dancing atop its strands was swaying in the light wind, as fireflies circled around one another up in the navy sky. If not given the circumstances it would've been a perfect place for an overly sentimental date. 

Evan lifted his gaze up to observe the stars that he hadn't seen in years. Never leaving the city was taking its toll on him, he could feel it as he gaped at the sight.

"This place is unreal." He whispered, spotting the lights of a plane cross his vision above. 

The assassin carved circles with the heels of his sneakers into the soil to occupy himself until Evan was done with his admiration. The former was aware of the area's mesmeric aura, he'd been here on quite a few occasions now so it was nothing new to him. He could be home plotting that CTO's death yet he was sitting there watching some no one getting lost in a landscape. 

Delirious knew in the back of his mind why he came here. He wanted to put his task aside for as long as possible. There was no way he was going to snipe that man. No, he needed another way, a way to get into his apartment unnoticed or plant a bomb in his car - no matter how much of a ruckus that would cause. Anything sounded better than Luke’s plan at that very moment. 

"Are you done?" He adjusted his hood on his head as he rose to his feet.

Evan was taking too long, okay?

Chestnut eyes snapped towards him with a sheepish smile. "Sorry." Evan apologized locking gazes with his companion. "So, where do we start?"

Delirious didn't think thus far. The guy wanted to learn self defence right? He certainly knew how to do that.

"Attack me." He told him after he'd discarded his weapons - including the intercepted pistol- onto his former seat. 

The moment of hesitation on Evan's part was enough for Jonathan to circle him and get him into a headlock. He was like a gazelle with his leaps. 

"And poof you died." He chuckled removing his arms from around the slightly shorter man and took a step back.

"I wasn't ready." Evan scoffed and turned around to try again. 

"A mugger scum won't care about that when he- he shanks you on the street." Came the reply with a slight slur.

Evan nodded and charged at the assassin, hands gripping his shoulders in an attempt to push him against something. Unlucky for the Canadian, they weren't in an alley this time but in the middle of a circle, the trees too far to use as leverage. Instead of stumbling, Delirious balanced himself - thanks to his great footing- and showed Evan back by his chest, who almost tripped from the sudden counter attack. 

"Nice try." Sarcasm thick in Delirious' tone, he anticipated another go.

However, Evan did the opposite, he crossed his arms with a questioning look. "Why am I the attacker if in the hypothetical situation I'd be the victim?"

"I just wanted to see what you got in ya." The assassin shrugged. "But if you insist I can attack you." 

Evan nodded - without his weapons he surely wasn't so great, he thought- and lifted his hands to be level with his waists palms open, ready to grab the other man. 

"Start walking." Delirious told him as he crept up behind him.

When he was close enough to reach him he pretend to have a knife in his right hand as he placed his left on Evan's hip. He held his empty fist against the latter's stomach and whispered into his ear.

"Give me all your money." This was part of the act, that didn't change the fact that the words sounded alien even to his own ears. 

Delirious was a lot of things but not a petty thief.

Evan had to think fast. Wiggling out of his grip would mean a slash on his chest - not a good idea - so he did what he believed was the best. An elbow to the abdomen and a twist of a wrist, and Delirious was pulling back with a grunt mixed with an unholy curse.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. I-" 

Evan was halfway through a spin to face him, desperate to make sure the assassin was alright, and Delirious had already straightened his back. He landed a direct kick to the back of Evan's knees, making him trip and fall onto his hands with a loud 'Fuck' and a thump.

"Jesus..." Evan mumbled as he scrambled to his feet, dusting of his jeans. "Not cool, man."

Delirious giggled, hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. "Never apologize."

"Don't blame me, it's the Canadian blood." Evan muttered with a grin of his own, then the smile faded as soon as he remembered that he got outsmarted.

Giving out personal information for a criminal? Oh how naïve can someone be?

Delirious smiled under his mask. "Round three?"

~  
The two boys spent almost an hour with creating dangerous scenarios for Evan. Delirious taught him that it didn't matter how bigger and more muscular an enemy - he called them that- or rather an attacker was. It was all about having good reflexes and observation skills along with the knowledge of the right moves. That's how the assassin always got away from Evan's grip. Although, he might've been a bit scrawny - a lot less buff than the Canadian that's for sure - he knew where to direct his hits.

"There if you hold me down-" Delirious guided Evan's arms to be directly in line with his ribcage. "Like that. I won't be able to hit you." 

From an outsider's point of view it could've looked like Evan was hugging him from behind. However, he wasn't, he thought of it as if it were some sort of a WWE move. 

Delirious' hood fell in the meantime so his hair was visible now - the strap of his mask was quite thin- and Evan's nose almost touched the mess of strands. It seemed so fluffy and smelled like cherries. Evan felt a sudden urge to run his hand through the back of it.

"Good. Now try to lift me."

_Come again?_

The hold on the assassin was tight so when he tried to escape from it- Evan even in a zoned out state didn't let him take control of the situation and show him who's boss- Delirious failed and the other man finally did what he was told.

A few seconds in the air, legs barely grazing the ground Delirious felt the air escape his lungs. "That's - 

When he started kicking, Evan let go of him completely and stepped away to let him breath again.

"Sorr-"

Delirious held a hand up, posture slouched, other hand on his knee as he collected his breath. "What" inhale " have I told you?" 

"So-" Evan bit back the word and placed a gentle hand on the other man's shoulder to show his remorse with worry in his eyes. "Are you ok-?" 

Delirious swatted his hand away, ready to disarm him, reaching for one of his hidden knife but it wasn't where it was supposed to.

_Oh yeah, shit._

He managed to assess the situation quickly retreating his hand, limbs relaxed. Not being used to physical contact, to Delirious another human's touch meant the opposite than it would for an everyday person. Touch equaled danger in his world and he made sure to never let his guard down.

"I'm fine." He waved him off, slipping his hood back up his head, gathering his things from the stump. "I think we're done for today, though."

With one last nod of his head as a goodbye, the assassin took off, slipping in between two bushes. Evan darted after him, firstly because he had no intention to get lost in the middle of nowhere, secondly since Delirious just implied something that made Evan's excitement level rise. 

"Wait!" 

Delirious slowed down but didn’t look back as he spoke. "I'll take you back to the park. From then on it's up to you if you find your way home or not."

Evan, grateful for the change of pace - those moves tired him out, okay- and the offer, nodded and mumbled a silent 'thank you'. He was glad the masked man didn't leave him to starve down in the forest.

As they ended up on a wider path the two finally walked next to each other. Delirious seemed to be lost in his thoughts, occasionally glancing at trees to check if they were on the right track.

Evan piped up when he couldn't bare the silence any longer. "Can I consider this as an apprenticeship?"

If looks could kill he would've dropped dead then and there. The side-glance Delirious had shot him flet like it could cut him open, the black haired man shivered at the thought.

"This was a one time thing, kid." He muttered as the city lights slowly came in sight. 

"But you said, we were done **for now** and-" Evan frowned as the assassin sped up most likely to get away from him as soon as possible.

"I know what I said." Delirious stated through gritted teeth and took one last turn before the park's sign was no longer blurry. "I misspoke."

Evan, thoroughly disappointed, watched as the other's figure became smaller as he walked away, frame vanishing in the rising sun, his 'stolen' gun long forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all should follow Delirious on Instagram, his page is class.


	9. Element of Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder, I don't know Squirrel's full name so I came up with a random last name for him.
> 
> Anyway, this is the proof that I cannot write slow burn fics ✌

Evan realised how greedy he was when he suggested to be the assassin's apprentice. The man must've had so many better things to do than to tutor him yet he still took on his request after saving his life once. That should've been more than enough for him. Besides, he got what he'd wanted. A few hours of training and he could definitely protect himself in a city like his. 

However, he couldn't help but long for another 'lesson' with Delirious. He really did enjoy himself, the assassin seemed fun even when he vigorously tried to hide it. His snarky comments and easily annoyed nature lured Evan towards him even more. He wanted to get know him. Why and how he got his nickname and what his real name was along with his hobbies, whether he prefered cats or dogs... He was getting ahead of himself and he needed to acknowledge that.

An envelope landing on his desk snapped him out of his thoughts, he jumped a tiny bit as he knew that he was supposed to be working. He tabbed back onto the page he originally had to check and only looked up when the deliverer of the letter greeted him.

"Hey, Evan." Joe - the upcoming CTO- stood next to his desk, hands atop his computer. 

His suit fitted him like a glove as always, he looked truly out of place with his put together attire and sudden appearance on this floor. Evan had never seen him on his storey, he wondered what he was doing there.

"Good morning, Mr. Hurley." Evan smiled up at the young man, a bit calmer due to him not being his own boss. 

"Oh Evan, you don't have to call me that. That's my dad." Evan knew that but since they were at work he wanted to keep on a formal façade. 

His superior chuckled and slid the envelope closer to him.  
"Don't you want to read this?"

Evan hummed in agreement, slowly opening it to reveal an invitation card which had the word 'celebration' written on it at least if not more than five times. Joe - as anticipated- got promoted as CTO.

"Congratulations!" Evan grinned at him, getting on his feet to shake hands with him. "I'll make sure to be there. Thanks for the invite."

The other man flashed him a smile of his own and let go of his hand to let him get back to work. "Roger that."

~  
So he had a party to attend at a highly overpriced hotel suite on Friday. Two and a half days should be enough to find his decent suit somewhere in the back of his closet and to make sure he had dress shoes to match. His weekday business casual attire wouldn't reach the event's standards, and now when he eyed himself a mirror he could see that he probably needed to pay a visit to a hairdresser too. 

Meanwhile Delirious just arrived at home from Cartoonz' place where he got informed about a celebratory banquet of his target. His time was running out and their client was getting impatient. Let alone Luke was also breathing down his neck about it, saying how he shouldn't overthink the task just accept the sniper that he'd picked up for him.  
Extremely annoyed and mad at himself for accepting the job the assassin did just that. 

Delirious dumped the case with the weapon in it on his couch and slumped down onto the floor, back against the side of said furniture. He buried his face into his hands, fingers curling against the roots of his hair and pulling. 

Did Luke want him to do this for Ohm's sake? Could either of them possibly benefit from this Squirrel guy's passing? Was Evan involved?

Evan.

He was something he should erase from his mind, just an ordinary distraction if you will. 

Howsoever, Jonathan claimed to have no fear yet facing a task with so many unanswered questions, and whatifs was scaring him. To be quite frank, the cause of his near panic attack moment was his doubt in himself. Without that dreadful memory of him missing once before with a sniper his mind wouldn't be stuck on a loop of scenarios all ending in failure - almost like a video of him pulling the trigger a millisecond later than intended.

A deep sigh and a temple massage later he caught himself reaching for the weapon. It was brand new, scope clean and perfectly clear. He just had to tune out these thoughts and hard feelings about the past. His kill count must've been above a thousand so this had to be easy.

Some target practice and he should be good. He wondered if his old ally 'Basically' still had the keys to that worn-out gun range downtown. 

He ran his bare hands down the side of the sniper, smiling to himself as he almost mechanically picked it up and looked through the scope. Fingers automatically on the trigger he felt at ease. Good thing there was no magazine in it. 

Now that he remembered, he never gave Evan his pistol back. As he put his own gun down, gently laying it in it's case a sudden plan formed in his head. He was going to contact Basically and on his way to the range he could drop it off at Evan's. 

~  
"What do you mean you don't have keys anymore?" Delirious was a block away from his destination, having asked for the man's number from Cartoonz.

Basically sighed on the other end of the line, not really used to speaking to the assassin himself on the phone. Sure he saw him every now and again, either to let him in the range, or hand him weapons but mostly Luke made those sort of arrangements. 

"You were my only real customer. I had to close it. I'm sorry, Delirious." 

Then he was going to have to do with practicing on cans. _Great._

"I don't think anyone did anything with it, though. So I'm pretty sure you can get in if you try hard enough."

Basically didn't have to say that twice.

But before that he had to pay Evan a visit. Hoping he wouldn't be home Delirious climbed up to his window just like he did the day prior. Easy- peasy, he smirked to himself as he crouched on the windowsill, the altitude not bothering him the slightest. 

What to do with the gun now? He could just leave it there - it would surely fall or someone would spot that troublesome pistol. The assassin was certain that Evan didn't have a license for it. But then again in Acongojar barely anyone did...

"Oh, hi." Evan waved at him from the other side of the glass surface, making Delirious jolt and almost fall.

When the hell did he get there? The latter wondered, steadying himself by holding onto the wall. Evan had been noisy since the day they'd crossed paths, what changed?

On the other hand, the Canadian didn't expect to see him ever again yet the assassin just kept popping up all over the place. He opened the window with a smile and beckoned towards him.

"Come on in." He chirped and made space for the masked man to enter.

Delirious stared at him dumbfounded, without a clue why Evan trusted him so much. To be fair to him, the assassin never warned him to stay away from him and he taught him useful self-defence moves, he even told the dude that he didn't want to kill him... Okay he started to savvy it now. 

"I just came to give you this." He unzipped his hoodie, pulled the gun out and held it out for Evan.

Evan hesitantly took it, a bit doleful that the other man didn't accept his invite. However, he felt joy to see that familiar face ~~mask~~ yet again. 

"It has totally gone out of my head." Chocolate eyes squinted from a smile which reached Evan's ears. "Thank you, though. I appreciate it, I really do."

A pair of blues locked gazes with him as the man shrugged. "Don't go crazy with that, you hear?"

"I won't. Unless I have to break into the office or some shit." Evan chuckled as Delirious' ears perked up at that.

He was intrigued now.

"Now why would you have to do such a thing?" 

It was the Canadian's time to shrug his shoulders. He'd never even considered this but the thought simply crossed his mind. This may impress him...

"I don't. I just learned how to pick a lock when I was younger. I used to break into my dad's office with my sister all the time." He smiled at the memory then added. "Nothing harmful was done, we just did it out of boredom."

The blank stare Evan received disappointed him but he wasn't surprised to say the least. Something so basic would never awe someone whose element was the shadows and being hidden was their main goal. Besides, that masked covered him just right, his body language could've given him away, though. The Canadian watched a slightly lifted shoulder ascend higher as the other man tilted his head to the side.

Delirious didn't just hear him, he was listening.

"How fast can you do it?"

A possible plan was forming in the assassin's head. Evan could be useful, he thought, fully knowing how he himself hated to pick locks - he prefered window entries, okay? His squatting stance started to hurt his knees so he very cautiously rose to a standing position and stepped into the room with a small thud. 

Evan took a step back, having noticed that Delirious liked to keep a generous amount of space between them - except if he initiated the closeness- and fought the grin tugging on his lips. He stirred up the other man's interest, if that's not a grand achievement, then Evan had no idea what was.

"I never measured it but probably within thirty seconds."

~  
Five minutes passed and Evan found himself trailing behind the assassin in hidden streets through empty gardens. With a quick 'come with me' and he blindly followed Delirious - the latter exited as he arrived as Evan left like a normal human being, through the door, thankful that Brock was already asleep. 

At 1 am, one man had senseless thoughts splicing together in his head about the unintelligible choice of his. He could've got into that range just fine on his own so why was he about to show something like this that had been close to his heart to somebody just so they could potentially ruin it? 

The other boy's mind was occupied with different things. Like how he was going to have to get up and be ready in 6 hours so he wouldn't be late for work. He wondered how easily they could've taken the tube or the bus for this mission if it wasn't for the the assassin's overprotected privacy. Where were they going again?

A palm on his chest and Evan managed to stay still behind the slightly taller man. They stopped at a crossing, nestling to a wall of an old, closed down factory. 

Delirious peeked around the corner and curled his fingers to beckon him closer. "It's there." He pointed at a ramshackle building with worn off red and blue paint saying 'Gun n' Fun' above its entrance. 

"There should be a backdoor." He hummed and took in their surroundings, double checking that no one was around. 

When the coast looked all clear, with a wave of his hand Delirious signalled for Evan to fall in line then keep up with him. They quickly tracked across the street and rounded the gun range. Evan felt an exhilarating buzz in veins as they did so, the assassin didn't have to ask him to inspect the lock and try to crack it. 

However, before he touched it, he asked in a hushed tone. "Do we have to get ready for an ear-splitting alarm to go off?" 

Delirious shook his head and scanned the door like that was going to change anything. "Allegedly this place is empty. Has been for months now. I know the previous owner."

Evan lowered himself down onto his knees and inserted a bobby pin into the lock. "How about the new one, though?"

Delirious liked this alert thinking - Evan didn't want to get jumped, he could get behind that. 

"S' free real estate now." 

That was enough for the Asian to turn the pin which made a satisfying click. 

He rose to his feet and held his hand out, palm facing the sky towards the door.

"After you." He chuckled as Delirious rolled his eyes, automatically pulling out a small handgun - it looked cooler than a knife, okay- and pressed the handle down.

Before he could push it open, both boys could pick up on something in the distance. The sound of footsteps echoed from down the road, a quiet voice of a man audible from where they were standing.

"Shit, hide." Delirious' first instinct was to turn around and shove Evan behind a dumpster.

They crouched down, backs against the wall, thighs flush together. Jonathan wasn't a man of religion but he sure as hell was praying now that his senses were high enough to get the direction of that 'intruder's' voice right. 

He was not going to be seen with Evan. He could not be spotted with him. That was his second rule: No side-kicks, or partners. Cartoonz may have been an exception but then again he never never showed himself accompanied by his best friend. Not even without his mask - in incognito if you will. Partnership meant more danger and emotional liability - he did not want to worry about losing someone, no thank you. And with a job like his that was bound to happen. 

And some say paranoia has a limit...

"You sure it's here?" The unknown man's voice came from the front of Gun n' Fun. 

He seemed to be on his own, most likely having a phone call. 

Seconds felt like hours as tiny noises indicated his approach. Jingle of keys could be heard from the other side of the 'store' as he hummed every once in a while.

"Fine, I'll check."

Evan and Delirious looked back at each other at the same time, interpreting the man's words the same way. The assassin sprung to his feet and grabbed his companion by the forearm and pulled him up. They tried to tiptoe to the next building without being scene, both close to bolt. 

The stranger's silence couldn't mean any good. There was no way they were going to be able to flee without him seeing them and neither fancied that fact. A left turn and - a dead end. Who the hell put that there?

"Oh fuck." Delirious swore under his breath, looking anywhere and everywhere where they could escape.

A possible ladder a cracked open window would work-

"You can't be recognized without your mask, right?" 

Delirious nodded absent-mindedly, feeling the inevitable nearing them. Whoever this man was had to be taken care of...

"Get your mask off." Evan told him out of the blue.

Panic rose in Delirious' eyes he felt anger bubble up in his chest. How dare he-

"Just do it! I won't look, I swear!"

Crunching of gravel way too close to them made the assassin follow Evan's suggestion.

He ripped off his mask, head turned away from the other man. He slipped it under his hoodie, pulling the zipper up so it was secured, itching to look behind him since he hated not to see what or who could possibly be there. Maybe they could play this off as a drug deal?

Evan did look, though. They needed to look natural fast. So why would two randomers hang around in an alley for no eyes to see? He caught a glimpse of a brown jacket and he acted without thinking.

He gripped Delirious by the arm, yanked him down, so they were face to face, eyes closed as he'd promised, and crashed their lips together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Cue* The beautiful laugh of Delirious.


	10. Action of Convenience

Delirious was baffled to say the least. His first instinct was to push him the fuck away as he stood there frozen in place eyes wide open. Evan's free hand found its way in the hair of the back of the assassin's head, gently tugging at his roots to get a reaction out of him. When he swiped his tongue over Delirious' bottom lip he finally shut his eyes and started kissing back. He shakily put his hands on Evan's hips to make the scene more realistic. No mind was paid to their stomachs that bumped together - the former looking like he was pregnant with his mask under his hoodie. Evan tilted his head to deepen the kiss fingers gently playing with Delirious' hair.

In any way soever, Evan's plan wasn't half bad, Jonathan thought to himself, undoubtedly impressed. No one would question why two dudes hid in a place like this to make out, or maybe they would but it was less suspicious than just standing there staring at a wall. The man on the phone didn't either as he barely paid them a look and passed without a word.

That was close. _Way too close._

When the air was completely still again Delirious was the first one to pull away. He turned away in the blink of an eye before Evan's eyes could adjust to the dim light and slipped his mask back on, hood up on his head once more. 

"We'll come back some other time." He cleared his throat and stuffed his hands into his pockets, he could still taste the other man.

A light pink shade dusted Evan's cheeks under that stiff gaze as he wet his still numb lips - that kiss was intense. Delirious' lips were a bit chapped but still soft and kissable, the Canadian regretted not ending it sooner or at least touching his face to get a small peek of him.

He nodded, hope sparking up from the hitman's words. They were going to meet again sith Delirious needed him for whatever reason. No matter how impossible it sounded, him not being able to pick a lock had crossed Evan's mind. But then again who was he to question an infamous assassin's skills. 

~  
They parted ways after that exchange, Delirious went back to his place for his sniper to practice as Evan did the same just with a different purpose - he needed some rest.

~  
The day of the party had finally came. Evan's working hours ran by like a cheetah. He soon found himself dressed up in a black suit with a creamy white shirt underneath, black tie and matching shoes in the penthouse's lobby. He didn't have to wait for long until a chic petite woman escorted him up to his soon-to-be-CTO's room when he was greeted by welcome drinks and fake smiles. 

All around him were unfamiliar faces, the only one he recognized was Joe's secretary and a couple of executives who he'd seen briefly in the office. Craig was supposed to be there so where was he?

Amongst the sea of people Evan found himself a drink and a quiet corner to observe the happenings from. As music played around him he tapped his feet to the rhythm thoughts far away from the event. That kiss was carved into his memory like a phantasm - he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact how he managed to man up an do that, even after two days. He made out with a serial killer whose face he'd never seen - only his lips for a split second-, whose personality he hadn't discovered yet. This certainly wasn't something that the Canadian would do but in a strange way it did feel right. 

As for Delirious, he saw that gesture as an action of convenience. However it was hard to convince himself that he only enjoyed it and responsed because it had been years since his last hookup or any sort of physical contact. But he did after all, packed that thought into a box and pushed it underneath a bed to the very back inside of his head. 

Time to concentrate on his task.

He didn't want to strike until all the guests were gone so he roughly calculated when they'd leave. Obviously, it was harder to snipe at nighttime but to disappear from the crime scene a lot easier, which of course was the assassin's main priority. 

So there he stood atop a roof from across the penthouse suite - in true Delirious style- setting up his sniper in position. He'd been practicing with the magnificent weapon in the woods - not hunting down animals he wasn't cruel just popping some cans and other useless garbage he could muster - since he admitted that was better than trying to get into Guns n' Fun. Besides in the range he couldn't quite have the right distance to shoot from anyways.

The long and short of it is that he lowered himself into a crouched position and looked through the scope of his sniper. It wasn't the right time to fire yet there were still a bunch of people lingering around. Well put together women and classy man pleasantly talked with one another, he couldn't find a single one with flaw from afar. Diamond necklaces, rhinestone earrings and boujee watches sparkled in the semi dark room, champagne glasses dangled in stressed hands from gripping them too tight. 

As he scanned the floor for his target his eyes locked onto a figure that stood out in the crowd. Their back was facing Delirious, somehow familiar broad shoulders lifting as he laughed at something that - hang on. 

_Bingo._

'Dead Squirrel' kept the aforementioned person occupied as it seemed. So now the assassin had a real reason to keep his attention on the two. Black hair with a fade on the sides, wild strands dancing atop his head, the man didn't brush Squirrel's hand off from his shoulder. And when he casted a glance to the side Delirious recognized those cheekbones immediately. 

Evan.

What the hell was he doing there all up in his target's business? The assassin was aware that the other man worked for the same company but that did not mean they knew each other...

~  
"No, I won't make huuuge changes. Just tiny cute ones." Joe laughed a bit tipsy from his umpteenth glass of red wine eyes darting up and down Evan's face. 

Although, the latter managed to find Craig earlier in the crowd, he somehow lost him when their new coworker Tyler showed up. The party itself wasn't half bad, Evan could mingle after that breaking-point. Chit-chat with a few ladies and some dudes then Joe beckoned him into his inner circle. 

"Uh-huh." Evan nodded, feeling sleepiness creep through him. 

The clock was close to midnight and the honey-eyed boy wasn't used to staying up that late anymore; apart from that two am training session with Delirious and that quick trip to some rundown gun range after eleven, but those were different. If he were excited he never got tired. 

Guests started slowly oozing out of the penthouse, only a few remained to congratulate Joe one last time. Even though Evan knew it was time to go, the newly promoted CTO detained him, he was welcomed there, no need to rush that much.

The twenty-six-year-old was the last one remaining when the clock finally hit 1. His companion seemed to have infinite energy as he babbled on and on about anything and everything as some upbeat melody flowed in the background. 

Delirious was on pins and needles to get the job over and done with. Cartoonz kept checking in on him through his earpiece, driving the younger man wild each time he did so. This Squirrel man didn't know what personal space was as it seemed, he was constantly in Evan's aura, all handsy and annoying in the assassin's eyes. Just give the man a break... And why was Evan still there in the first place?

"Yo, Del?"

"What, Cartoonz?" The fifth call and Jonathan was ready to find his mediator to give him a piece of his mind or simply pull that damned trigger - a man can't work like this, he thought. 

"Do you have a clear sight on him?"

Technically yes. Theoretically, no. Evan was kind of in the way and Delirious didn't want to eliminate his target with him still present. He shouldn't have to witness such a thing. Besides that way he'd be the first suspect at the CTO's murder and Delirious didn't want that to happen. Plus there was a chance - a tiny one but still a possibility- that he somehow hurt him in the process as well. If he'd been keeping him safe for this long he didn't feel the need to stop now. 

"Not yet. He is still with guests."

Luke hummed from the other and of the line and clicked his tongue. "Weird, I thought all the cars had left."

_Shit._

Why was he hooked on the security cameras again?

"Um." 

Joe rested his chin atop Evan's shoulder as he laughed, the assassin's fingers slipped down dangerously close to firing. Was that fucker flirting with ~~his man~~ him? Dark eyes squinted in slight envy(?) Delirious wasn't sure yet but he needed to brush the feeling aside. He couldn't let such a think make his blood boil. No acting without thinking.

Right.

"Delirious?"

His index finger remained on the trigger, eyes never ceasing from the scene. Squirrel's hand slipped down and rested on Evan's lower back as they spoke. He guided him into the lounge where they sat down on an enormous leather sofa.

"This one last guest didn't come with a car." He murmured. "And I'd be glad if you'd stopped bothering me. It's distracting."

To be fair to him it was hard to concentrate when your best friend was checking in on you every two seconds. Oh how Delirious had missed those lone wolf days of his...

Some mumbling and then "Fine." The line went dead.

"I should really head home." Evan stretched after half an hour of more talking, slowly standing up, some bones popping in the process. 

Thankfully, he barely drank anything so he was more than sober to see the other's eyes pleading at him.

"You could stay the night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block? We don't know her.


	11. Back in the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact of the day: Lui was my favorite YouTuber for a long time until he stopped uploading. I still love him when he appears randomly in videos, though.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy reading this shorter piece :)

Evan didn't.

Although, the invite was enticing, he weren't born yesterday to not know what it meant. Joe was an attractive man but it would've gone against his morals. Sleeping with your boss' son wasn't a great idea in the slightest, not to mention that thinking about someone else other than Delirious in a way like that just didn't feel right. Evan couldn't wrap his mind around it why. Did he seriously have a crush on an assassin? They'd kissed and he enjoyed his silent yet snarky company but that was all. So why did he act like they developed a connection of some sort?

Delirious didn't want to do anything with him, let alone want him so why did he have to be so keen on making him change his mind?

With a shit load weighing down his mind he heiled a cab and got home in the early morning hours.

~

Delirious wasn't a religious man but he made the sign of the cross when Evan finally left. He was getting impatient. Squirrel's bodyguards were prancing around the place, one remained at the entrance, though. He had to act before the young man ascended to bed.

So when his target took a seat at his kitchen table, dismissing two of his henchmen, the huge windows of his gave the perfect view for the assassin. And they were open too! How can one be so careless?

 _Don't move._ He chanted inside his mind, fingers gripping his sniper with a bit more force. Squirrel looked around before he whipped out his phone and started scrolling. This generation and their addictions...

The air seemed to freeze, temperature cold and crispy. He wished the eye-holes on his mask were bigger. Time slowed down as a red dot appeared on the target's forehead. Delirious just had to pull the trigger before anyone noticed. His heart rate picked up speed to an unhealthy extent and his forefinger slowly swiped down into place. His hands were shaking and sweating he had to take a deep breath to ease some of his nerves. An image of the man grazing Evan's cheek with his thumb flashed up in his mind. His emotions shut down just like in the old days or whenever he had a knife between those slim fingers of his.

Squirrel moved to stand. Delirious did not hesitate to put pressure on the trigger and fire.

Two ear-plugs in, having discarded his earpiece earlier, the noise of the shot was still deafening. The gun kicked back a tiny bit - good thing it was chocked up on the ledge of the rooftop- the assassin had to balance himself as he watched the outcome. 

Squirrel's body jerked when the bullet made contact with the sensitive skin just beneath his hairline. Eyes rolling up and limbs going limp a bodyguard of his rushed to him but it was too late.

Delirious was back in the game.

~  
He made the quickest escape he could menage by not bothering to climb all the way down the ladder he used for his arrival, but by jumping from about three quarters above the ground. Even though, his ankles hurt like hell from the landing he didn't have time to waste. The murderous weapon shoved into a guitar case - what a disguise that was- hung on his shoulder he sprinted down the back alley, knowing that's the first place the frantic security team of his victim would look for him. 

Cartoonz had told him on numerous occasions that he should really purchase a getaway vehicle. This was the first time he regretted not doing so. Although his calves were in serious pain he kept running and running, zigzagging through the hidden streets of Acongojar. A bike would be too loud he reasoned and putting a car in action could take ages. He had faith in his feet, they'd never betrayed him before. However, he could feel something similar to a car battery going dead as his muscles burned. 

Why was he still on the run and go? If anyone saw him back there - which he seriously doubted- they had surely lost him now. But something about this job didn't let him take a break or navigate towards his apartment that he called home. No need for anyone to track him down. So he changed directions and headed towards the forest he trusted so dearly.

There stood, just like he remembered a small cottage neatly concealed by all sorts of emerald plants. The door was locked since he left it like that last time so he had to dig up the keys from underneath a stump. Entering the tiny building felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The air smelled musty from the lack of ventilation as one single bed was placed in the middle of the room. Delirious pulled the door in after himself and it clicked shut with a comforting sound. 

In the middle of the night down in the forest he could finally breath.

Sitting down the bed creaked under his weight. He laid the guitar bag down on his lap and let out a long sigh. Time to report the happenings to Luke.

After his very brief chat with the man, he considered his options. He didn't plan in staying the night - well those 3 hours remaining from it- he wanted to get home before dawn. With shaking hands he removed his mask and carefully slipped it into the case atop the sniper. Although, he hated being without his "camouflage" he had to admit that it was safer to be in public without that infamous mask.

His apartment was a thirty minute walk away from the hideout. Thoroughly worn-out, aching all over he seeked one last glance behind his back. When he entered the building he was surprised to see his landlord coming from the opposite direction towards him on the third floor. Why was he up so early/late?

"Hey, Jonathan." He waved at the exhausted man voice low so he wouldn't wake any tenant. "Rough night, was it?" A kind smile from the short Hispanic and he stepped aside for the assassin to pass him.

"Good morning? Night... Lui." Delirious nodded at the other man as he did so and fixed the strap of his bag. "Uh-huh."

Lui chuckled eyes roaming around Jonathan for a split second, eyebrows slightly raised when he spotted what was on his shoulder. He didn't know he played. Lui didn't ask him about it, though. He never did. That's why the assassin liked him. 

"Go get some rest. Don't forget your rent, though." With a final pat on his back the smaller man left Delirious for his own devices hands in his pockets as he trotted down the stairs.

Jonathan was thankful for Lui for a lot of reasons. One, he didn't kick him out when he was behind with his payments- not like he couldn't afford his stay he just always forgot to defray but when he finally did he did slip extra cash into the envelope - two, he was so laid back and chill all the time. Delirious thought of him as a friend who knew barely anything about him and vice versa but still someone who was more than a normal acquaintance. Sometimes he even let him in for a quick chat. However, he had an inkling that Lui was aware or had a close guess about his job but that no longer alarmed him. 

The apartment complex was safe and that's all that mattered.

~

Evan had a bad feeling about leaving Joe's penthouse suite. He shook it off, though, elucidating it was just from the fact why he was so keen on fleeing. Dumbfounded and confused from how he'd never noticed the signs he pulled on a t-shirt. Joe clearly liked him or at least his looks. He dropped by almost every day to say hi to him, lingering around his desk for a moment or two always all up in his personal space.

Evan laid down on his bed drowsy yet happy to be out of his uncomfortable smart clothes. Staring up at the plain ceiling, fingers entwined on his stomach, he sighed.

He wished that nothing would change when he got back to the office for his switched shift on Monday morning.


	12. Raided

On Saturday morning two police officers knocked on their door. Brock let them in concerned as to why they showed up out of the blue, quickly trying to think of anything illegal that he might'd committed. His task seemed to be impossible.  
When they asked to see Evan his worry aroused. What had he gotten himself into? His room-mate was still asleep so he made them coffee as they waited until he quickly got dressed after Brock's abrupt reveille. 

To hear the news about Joe's passing flabbergasted them to say the least. They were both devastated, mostly Evan, though, since Brock barely knew him - well the former was almost the same but they'd at least talked a couple of times- neither of them could comprehend how or why it had happened.

No wonder, Evan was reluctant to go to work on Monday. Black flags smoothly swirled in the wind on the tower of Ave Corp gray skies cloudy, he could see more of his colleagues being interrogated as he entered the building. The whole place was almost silent. Everyone worked on their respective jobs quietly, there was no radio blasting pop songs nor obnoxious phone calls with languid clients. Evan felt out of place as he set to his own task, his desk-mate nowhere to be seen.

Too tense to pay attention to the screen before him, the hours passed painfully slowly. He promised to work overtime so when the sun had gone down and the moon illuminated the city, he left his desk for a quick break. He was on his way to fix himself a coffee when all the lights abruptly turned off, some still flickering due to delayed reaction. Other employees got up from their seats, everyone trying to find the source of the problem. A higher up reassured them that it was only a small powerbreak and the electrician was going to be there to fix everything in a second.

A loud crash and a brick came flying through the glass window that faced the street. Somebody screamed in the distance, the sound of running increased from the staircase, security guards rushed outside to investigate the reason of the hustle. 

Evan's first instinct was to grab Brian and run. He quickly set his mug aside and made a bee-line towards his friend, ducking when another bang came from underneath them. Shouts of confusion mixed with fear orbited in the air, computers shutting down made the scene rather apocalyptic.

"The exit is barricaded!" A lady cried out, missing one shoe as he reached the floor. "We're all doomed." She sobbed through hysterics the manager of the department ushered her inside and tried to calm her down.

"Everybody stay calm. Our security team is working on the-" 

The sound of the elevator breaking screeched, interrupting the attempt of sedation. 

Meanwhile Evan managed to reach Brian and crouched down beside him, one hand holding onto his desktop the other on the Irishman's shoulder. He could hear his heartbeat enhance, almost as if it were suddenly transplanted into his ears. 

"We gotta get out of here." The Canadian's gaze remained on the door as he spoke in a low tone, trying to come up with a plan. 

Although, Brian was on the same page as him, they both had an inkling that it was impossible to do that. Glad that neither of their friends had stayed after their shifts they had to worry less at least. 

"What if we hid somewhere?" Brian suggested, flinching when the sound of a furniture being forcefully moved reached his ears. 

"Alright. Come on." Evan bolted towards the stairs that led to the top of the building. 

The light brunette followed him without further questions, taking two steps at a time. 

"There's a panic room somewhere." Honey eyes searched frantically for said place's entrance, mad that he didn't bring his pistol to work.

But then again he couldn't have known what was going to happen. No one did.

Well except for a handful of people...

~

"Jay this is big." Cartoonz grinned counting the five thousand dollars plus the bonus with a proud clap on the assassin's back. "You've done an amazing job."

Delirious not used to being praised took a step away from him, eyebrows raised due to Luke's hushed tone.

"Why's the whispering?"

Delirious and his priorities... He couldn't handle when something wasn't ordinary. 

Cartoonz caught his eyes briefly as he divided their cuts. He shrugged his shoulders and took a glance towards his bedroom.

"Ohm's taking a nap."

The hitman crossed his arms whilst processing the information. Something was not adding up and the moderator was acting fishy yet again. 

So Jonathan, as nonchalantly as he could, asked. "Why is he not at work?" 

"Told him not to go in."

"Is that so?" The assassin pried further with a hum, pocketing the cash his friend handed to him in the meantime. "Why, if you don't mind me asking."

Luke couldn't hide his excitement anymore, his poker face like façade broke. "We may have set off a chain reaction."

"With what? What'd you mean?" 

The moderator summarized in a few words what he'd learned about whilst digging up Squirrel's info. He was trafficing guns and drugs and his motive to be a CTO came from the desire to neatly conceal this fact by the help of the company. 

"Our 'principal' is on the move to bust the case." Luke finished with a satisfied smile, setting off an uneasy feeling in Delirious' gut.

"Don't tell me some cop hired me to-"

 

"What, Delirious? Come on now, of course not! Don't be stupid." Cartoonz shook his head with a frown sensing the defensive stance of his friend. 

He'd truly masteted whisper-yelling. 

" Did you really think the A.P. D. was involved? This is kept under the down low. Well, as far a raid can be not considered as non-chaotic."

"Raid on what?"

"Ave Corp, duh." 

_Holy shit._

Delirious was out the window before Luke could stop him, let alone comprehend the movement. 

~  
A flipped lowrider car quietly burned away in flames accross from the ten storey tower of Ave Corp. It was glowing, embers barely showing, Delirious could see movement on the third floor. Keeping it on the down low, my ass he thought to himself, kicking away an empty beer can. He wasn't surprised not to see any sort of help by the police, no one brothered to call in to report the happenings. The cops must've turned blind eyed, maybe some of them were even in on the whole case.

As for Evan and Brian, they finally found the room they'd been looking for. It was located on the fifth floor, the boys hoped that blowing the building up wasn't the attackers' plan. Thankfully, unlike the normal offices this one didn't have a glass door but a hardwood non-seethrough one. Although, the only source of light being their phone flashlights didn't make their task easier, they managed to lock themselves in, a cupboard pushed in front of it with joined forces. 

Brian straightened his back to try and recollect air into his lungs. "We should really call 911."

Even though the other couldn't see it, Evan shook his head for emphasis. "There's no point. I saw literal tear gas seeping through the main lobby. If the cops, firemen or whoever cared they would already be here."

He had a point.

And Delirious was walking through said tear gas, breathing through the neck of his hoodie mask forgotten at Luke’s place. Howsoever, that wasn't half bad for him now. The assassin didn't want to get recognized in his signature disguise and now he had nothing on him that could in any way shape or form give away his identity.

He sneaked around the first floor, checking for any hostages or a sign that could lead to Evan. To say Delirious was a paranoid man was an understatement. His first thought was always the worst case scenario so he didn't even considered visiting Evan's flat for his whereabouts. It might've been irrational but then again if he were in the building then the assassin would've surely ran out of time to save him if he'd done so. 

Desks laid on their sides, paper was scattered all over the floor, Delirious had to quicken his steps if he didn't want to suffocate. Good thing there were broken windows or else he wouldn't have been able to deal with the smoke this efficiently. With burning eyes, he skipped up the stairs, cursing why gas descended upwards. Where the hall was everyone? Working hours should be over so I may get lucky, he thought, not entrusting fate with this one so he made sure to check the whole suite. 

He could hear movement from above. The ceiling creaked with footsteps that indicated Delirious was not alone in the building. He spotted a bandana lying around the floor, plain black with white shapes on it, nothing he'd seen a gang wear before. With clear disgust he flicked it once or twice, reminding himself to stop taking his sweet time and tied it around the lower part of his face. He hoped he could blend in with this.

On the third floor was a man flailing a gun around at people who were huddled together in a circle all sitting on the parquet. 

"Nobody say a damned thing. Your boss is gonna pay." He snarled as green eyes scanned the hostages.

No sign of Evan for now... Not risking to be spotted, he retreated from the scene with the promise of coming back if he didn't find him anywhere else. Meeting rooms, a main office area, everything messy with subversion but other than that clear. 

~

The door of the panic room didn't quite reach the floor so their oxygen level decreased by the second. When the hallways quieted down the boys agreed to flee, moving their barricade away as silently as possible. Evan ever so slowly twisted the doorknob and pushed the wooden surface outward. Neither of them were prepared to be met by the barell of a pistol on the other side of it, though. 

"And what do we have here?" The man who had them at gunpoint chuckled, hands steady on the weapon. "Two lovebirds hiding away, oh how sweet." Only his eyes were visible, a bandana covered the rest of his face.

As Brian raised his arms in surrender, he nudged Evan with a trembling knee to do the same. The latter refused and studied their chances of survival. 

By the lack of fear or any sort of reaction from the Canadian's side, the man was losing his patience  
"If I were you I'd join the hostages." 

"Now why would we do that?" Evan smiled, taking a step closer to the stranger.

It was only one man, he could surely disarm him and-

"What's going on?" Another figure appeared, handgun's position mirroring the other's. Brian's fingers were digging into his friend's shoulder going deeper and deeper.

"I found two stray ones. All brave and disobliging." Guy one informed guy two.

From the corner of his eyes Evan could see movement.

A creak of the floor and... There was no more room to talk as a throwing knife wedged itself into the newcomer's throat, he dropped to the ground as he cried out in pain, blood oozing out of the open wound, hand grasping the handle. His partner looked around crazed to find the culprit, blindly firing a shot in the general direction of the assault. Evan without any hesitation whatsoever elbowed him in the stomach, rushing out of the room, leading Brian by his arm. If it weren't for the incredible reflexes of the new member of the scene, they would've collided with him then and there. 

A blue gaze locked eyes with the raven haired boy for a split second, before he knelt down and pulled the blade out of the injured attacker. 

"Del-?"

"Shut the fuck up and run!" 

Evan was right with the recognition, he couldn't pry his eyes away fron the assassin who pushed the knocked down guy into the room they'd just exited.

"Ev, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Brian tugged on the addressed man's sleeve.

The assassin knocked the remaining man out with his own gun and skipped in front of the two 'workers' to lead them.

Brian was relieved that Evan finally started moving trying hard not to second guess his trust in this stranger. He was wearing the same bandana after all... But in a life or death situation you don't think things through just act and do everything to stay alive. He hurried after their saviour, they practically flew down the stairs, Delirious shot them a glare over his shoulder for smacking their shoes against the floor too loudly. Way to be subtle idiots... He thought peeking into the lobby on the third floor stalling before they continued.

"Is that-? Evan's whispered thoughts got cut of by Delirious' raised hand, index finger signalling to keep his mouth shut.

All three of them saw the hostage situation, two thinking how to get past it without getting noticed and one how to save them.

"Let's go." The assassin mumbled cursing under his breath when he saw someone, the man guarding the gate to be exact, get closer to them. "Act dumb." He hissed lowly, locking eyes with the guard.

"What you doing here?" 

Delirious cleared his throat and spoke in a deeper tone. "Just found two more." He grabbed both boys on their upper arms and felt his brain short-circuit for a second. 

_Just believe I'm one lf you_ , his fingers were crossed in theory.

"Bring 'em in then." 

"I'd rather not." His reply was quick and so was his movement. He flip-kicked him in the stomach, using Evan and Brian for leverage for a second as he lifted himself off of the floor.

He dropped down and shouted the instruction. "Go!"

"What about the others?" Evan frowned as Brian fled without further ado, blood running cold when a bullet whizzed past them. Then another one, and - another one.

A heroic railing saved them both, the former didn't hesitate to enscone to a corner. 

"We'll call the cops, just go." Delirious grabbed his hand and dragged Evan with him.

Who gave this people machine-guns? Delirious swore behind his half mask, making sure the other man was alright every once in a while. Life would had been too easy if they weren't being followed so he had to fire back a couple of times with the pistol he 'borrowed' from the guy who'd aimed a gun at his 'selfe-defense' buddy earlier.

Relieved they were out of the building Evan had a second to get his act together. He knelt down next to the assassin, hands free now. He could see a mess of light brown locks that couldn't have belonged to anyone else but Brian driving away in his commercial car. He was safe now, he smiled.

Like the calm before the storm, the peace was only temporary and then men came trotting through the lounge of Ave Corp.

Delirious ducked behind the fully burnt lowrider and fired a couple of shots. To be fair to him, his aim was still perfect and he managed to hit all three who followed them, he wasn't so lucky with a stray bullet, though. Evan was the indicator of action now, he navigated them to the parking lot behind the building to get some sort of vehicle. The assassin surprisingly didn't object, he followed him and was greatly suprised when Evan hopped on a motorcycle. The latter gave the assassin a once over, eyes anticipating. However, his gaze instantaneously locked onto a red splotch on a dark blue hoodie before he could speak.

Delirious' arm was bleeding and rather heavily.


	13. Violet Scent with a Mix of Lilies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I told you guys that I'm not a native English speaker? Now you know lol. 
> 
> Also Evan's new Stick Fight video was so gay like oml.

Evan no longer had the undying desire to save his colleagues whom he'd never exchanged more than two words with. Delirious' palm was already on the wound but he couldn't hide the crimson pooling on his sleeve anymore from the other man.

"Jesus, Delirious. Come here. Hop on and I'll take care of you."

"No, you get home. I'll be fine." He had to grit his teeth to prevent a scream from escaping his lips.

There was no way that bullet didn't just graze him or else he would've blacked out from the pain by now. Hearing more gunshots from inside and seeing Evan's overly worried expression no matter how stubborn Delirious was, he climbed onto the bike behind him.

"You good?"

"Just drive." He murmured as he put an arm around Evan's torso the other cautiously pressed against his own chest.

"Aye, aye, captain!" The Canadian chuckled and the engine roared to life.

~

No directions were given to Evan just to leave the city since the assassin wasn't so keen on showing his apartment to a practical stranger. Unfortunately, the office was in the very centre of Acongojar so after five blocks away from the scene Evan slowed down so he wouldn't have to shout over his bike.

"How are you holding up?"

It took Delirious a minute to respond, the side of his face was against the driver's back now. He would'd felt pathetic and weak if it weren't for the intolerable throbbing in his arm.

_God, how could he be so careless?_

" 'M great. Just go to the forest." He muttered biting his lip to help himself stay focused and conscious.

"Do you have like a safe place there?" Evan had to make sure he wasn't driving him to his death.

"Yeah."

The grip around Evan's middle loosened, making him want to accelerate and just speed through the streets out of toon as soon as possible. Even so, he knew that this wasn't the bestest of ideas since neither of them were wearing helmets, plus the risk of Delirious falling off had majorly risen. Wind pushed against their uncovered faces, hair flopping all over the place. The assassin's hood slipped down quite some time ago, he couldn't be bothered anymore to fix it. His only goal was to get into a bed and sleep. A sweet sweet nest of sheets, violet scent with a mix of lilies...

"Just hang in there."

When Delirious didn't respond Evan swerved the bike in a different direction, heading straight to their flat. He was not going to let him die, no way. Even if there were adequate medical supplies in that bunker, hut, whatever the assassin insisted to go to- which the honey-eyed man highly doubted- there was no way that Delirious was in the right mind to tell him which way to go.

~

His eyes were still open when Evan jumped off of his vehicle and very cautiously lifted him up from it, bridal style, the latter wondered how heavy he must be. The urge to stab him right then and there flashed through Delirious' safety driven mind but subsided rather quickly. He connected that soft smile of his to peace, he almost mirrored the expression when the other man fumbled with the buttons of the elevator. But then he remembered Evan's roommate.

"H-how about-?" He coughed, voice scratchy from the pain and drowsiness it was accompanied by.

The doors shut behind them with a 'ding' Evan's hold around his thin frame tightened.

"Don't tire yourself out more. Everything is going to be a-okay." 

Without a free hand to look for his keys, Evan pressed their doorbell with his elbow, hoping Brock would be at home.

With an uncertain swing of the door, the brunette emerged from their apartment, eyes darting everywhere in shock. Mouth agape, he stepped to the side so Evan could easily get in and started his inquiry a million miles per hour. 

"What happened to you? God, Evan are you okay? What happened to him? Who is he? Is he your boyfriend?"

In the meantime the Canadian carefully laid Delirious down onto their sofa not phased by the possibility of getting blood all over it. The assassin alarmed by the newcomer's presence came to his senses a bit more, eyes wide and forlorn as he stared at the crouched man beside him.

Brock ran to their bathroom to get some equipment, hurrying back with a first aid kit, rags and a bucket of water to work with.

"We're gonna have to get this off of you." Evan told him referring to his hoodie wich gave no access to his wound. 

With the help of Brock he got the struggling man out of his favorite article of clothing and inspected the injury carefully. Neither of them took medical school but had some idea how to clean a wound. Thankfully it was only a cut - a rather deep one, but hey at least they didn't have to perform a bullet takeout. Evan flinched every time Delirious did the same, silently apologizing for every ache he'd caused him along the way. The alcohol burned like hell but then again it wasn't something that Jonathan hadn't experienced before. They wrapped him up, a pretty bandage decorating his sturdy bicep as Evan frowned at him worrisome as ever.

"Brock, I'll explain later. Just call the police and tell them there was a raid on the office. There might be hostages." The Canadian pleaded as he accepted the glass of water and painkillers his room-mate had brought for Delirious. 

Brock gasped at the new information but didn't pry and did what he was told, hurrying out of the room.

Evan carefully put a hand behind the back of the assassin's head and after lifting his bandana he tilted his chin to help him drink. Surprisingly Delirious complied, eyes only searching for Brock for a little while. The liquid felt refreshing for his Sahara desert like dry mouth, he swallowed the meds without further complications and laid back down for a few seconds.

"Thank you." He murmured fixing his makeshift mask, he already revealed more of himself than he'd intended. 

As he was about to swing his legs off the sofa and leave, Evan put a gentle hand on his chest eyebrows furrowed. "No sudden movements, remember? You might faint with the generous amount of bloodloss you just went through, you know." 

Delirious sighed in defeat. He just wanted out. Being in what he considered as dangerous territory, with not one but two completely **normal** people made his skin crawl. Firstly, they weren't his own kind, they were far from it to be quite frank, meaning that neither of them knew nor would be able to comprehend how he easily he could get over an event like this. A happening that for an ordinary human would feel like a tragedy - a crisis if you will - was an everyday occurrence in his life. And secondly, he felt exposed in front of Evan's friend, having gotten used to the man himself, Brock still made alarms go off in the hitman's head putting all his senses - damaged and tired but still alright- on high alert. 

Deep in thought he could still spot the (seemingly) elder of the duo entering the room from the corner of his eye. He watched cautiously as Evan left his side to interact with the other man, whispering about some 'Brian' and him being 'completely fine'. He had a great inkling that this was the man who without a word abandoned them to save his own ass. Better watch out for him in the future for Evan's sake... 

Delirious was a great observer, he could see the utter disbelief in Brock's eyes as Evan walked him through the attack in a nutshell. Brown irises glistened in concern - maybe this Brian was a love interest of his. _Interesting_. The assassin started to feel like he was undercover and he didn't even have to hide or try and blend in. He could just laze around and learn so much! Why hadn't he thought of this before? Oh yeah right, because he wasn't a stalker. Obviously. 

"Is he-? Brock glanced at him over Evan's shoulder words louder than he thought they were.

"A friend of mine who saved us." Evan told him having no intention to blow away Delirious' cover. 

Saying what Brock wanted to hear would've complicated a lot of things. No matter that the man in their livingroom was indeed the alleged boyfriend.

Brock wasn't so sure of Brian's wellbeing, besides he wanted to give some space to Evan and his 'friend' so he decided to pay the Irishman a visit. However, before he left he inspected the injured one, one last time.

"I hope you'll be okay. Thank you -" He waited for a name to leave Delirious' mouth but those lips were sealed shut.

Not today, Satan. Jonathan thought, pretending to act dumb and nodding for the acknowledgement. 

"Erm- For saving my idiotic friends." He let out a nervous chuckle, seeking a quick glance at Evan when those icy blues remained stone cold which said 'Is he really your friend? He's a tad bit creepy'. 

He was gone in the blink of an eye, Evan retraced his steps back to the floor next to the assassin. He sat down onto the carpet cross-legged, gaze fixated on Delirious, looking like a child waiting for their bedtime story. 

"How are you feeling?" He asked in a soft tone, suprising Jonathan how heartfelt it sounded.

"As sound as a bee. No belt? Ah whatever." He sat up slowly so Evan wouldn't scold him - who whispered a small correction 'bell' in the meantime-, careful not to move his hurt arm much. "Truly great, ready to go home."

"Like I'm gonna let you leave just like that in the dead of night, aching and barely conscious." The sarcasm was thick in Evan's tone as he scrambled to his feet, taking a seat beside Delirious.

The assassin didn't expect anything else from him really. 

"Fine. Y-you know that I can kill you, huh?"

Evan just rolled his eyes, leaning back a little with a grin. "You sound like a broken record. And just like you said you would've done it by now."

Their thighs were touching ever so slightly, the heat radiating off of Evan felt inviting and suave. This was almost pleasant, normal- a change Delirious could debate about for hours whether it was good for him or not. 

"I-I could've - should've? Changed my mind..." He trailed off drowning in the mess off words he just spluttered.

Evan threw his head back in laughter, sounding rich and breathy but melodic to the ears nonetheless.

God, even his side profile was perfect with that sharp jaw-line and cheekbones for days. The assassin admired him from up close, making Evan's smile grow as Delirious subconsciously leaned closer to his face.

"Hi." The Canadian chuckled, tilting his head so their foreheads momentarily bumped together. "You really are doped up, aren't you?"

Maybe the pills finally kicked in or maybe it was something else that stopped him from slapping Evan's hands away as he reached for his bandana. The process of untying it felt like if it were a wall being torn down from his neatly built castle of secrecy. 

Evan's mouth slightly opened, front teeth peeking out from behind his top lip when he could finally see the whole picture. _And oh my lord was it beautiful._ Delirious was the 'How Are You Not Photoshopped ®' kind of hot and Evan wanted to see more, taste those pink almost full lips - for good this time-, trace those constellation-like freckles with his fingers. 

Pupils dilated, Delirious started giggling at the raven haired boy's reaction. Giggles turned into psychotic cackles before he calmed down due to the subdued but still stinging pain in his arm as his body shook from the movement.

"I- I am not that ugly." He pouted, lower lip sticking out. 

The words rolled off his tongue so naturally, he could feel tension evaporate from his body as he slowly but surely let his guard down. 

"Quite the opposite actually." Evan sighed, amused at the other's unique laugh yet distressed with the thought 'he won't ever be mine' swimming in the back of his mind.  
"You should get some rest." He suggested when the assassin yawned so big he could literally see down his throat.

"Here?"  
His paranoia crept up like he had a switch in him that most often didn't have an off function.

Anything to make him stay...

"Well if you are more comfortable with that, you can sleep in my room."


	14. Sweet Talker

Reluctance holding back his limbs Delirious didn't try and get up. He was paler than usual, the peachy colour drained from his cheeks. Evan worries resurfaced and he made sure to voice them.

"I think you should go see a doctor to check if you need blood transfusion or something. There's a hospital just around the corner so-"

At the word 'hospital' Delirious seemed more collected than before as he pushed himself up from the couch. Legs slightly wobbly he stood against the furniture piece. 

"I'm alright. Fantastic even." He giggled, taking a step forward just to stumble and end up in Evan's arms.

"Doesn't seem like it." The Canadian held him by his shoulders, relieved that the assassin didn't shove him away. 

High on painkillers Delirious was his favorite type of Delirious yet. He could bear physical contact way better than normal Delirious could and he didn't protest against Evan's presence which was indeed new.

"Well, do y-y-you actually think that I have like a- like an ID?" Head tilted to the side in question the assassin waited for an answer.

"Yeah. You must have something. But I'm guessing a health insurance is not a matter that you care about."

Delirious impressed with the great detective work nodded. "Shit, you right." 

~  
Somehow Evan managed to convince him to stay the night and sleep in his room. However, before he could leave to crash in the living-room not to disturb the other man or violate his well-respected privacy, Delirious languidly caught his wrist between his fingers.

"Is everything okay?" Honey eyes scanned the injured man beneath his sheets as the grip was dropped.

"Yeah. But are you?"

Evan was taken aback by the question. This was the first time the assassin showed empathy or any kind of concern towards him.

"I guess... What do you mean?"

Delirious pinched his nose, massaging his forehead with his other hand. A headache slowly surfaced, silencing his thoughts about Evan's encounter with that CTO. 

What could he possibly ask about now? _Come on, Jonathan, think!_ When a light bulb finally lit up in his head he managed to salvage the mess he almost got himself into.

"Just- your office, like, it got attacked so-" He trailed off as his words got interrupted by a yawn. 

A true sweet talker.

"I'm fine." Evan smiled as a question surfaced in his mind.

He hoped that under the influence of strong medication Delirious would spill things he would never without it. Not vital things though, he didn't want to exploit the situation, the assassin didn't deserve that. No one did.

"How did you know what was happening, though?" 

_'And better yet why did you save me?'_ The latter thought wasn't voiced, since the Canadian didn't feel like stepping over the other's boundaries either. Always take one step at a time.

Delirious furrowed his eyebrows not sure what to let him know. His head was pounding and he accidentally drew the blanket onto his bandage.

"I didn't. I - nearby, was?" Word order and legibility wasn't one of his strong suits especially when wounded but Evan understood him nonetheless.

He let him sleep after that without further inquiry and left his room with a soft 'Good night'.

~  
By the time Evan woke up Delirious was nowhere to be seen. The assassin left early in the morning after scribbling him a note with the text 'Owe U 1' written on it all in capital letters. He carefully wiped off his fingerprints from the paper and decided to use an actual door for his escape this time, not trusting his balance just yet.

He needed some time to rest and disappear from the face of the earth.

~

Ave Corp was closed down for a whole week and the owner of the company decided to move facilities after the incident. The new building was surrounded by police officers and the employees had to go through a thoroughly circumstantial security check at the entrance every morning. Evan learned that Ryan quit his jobb in the meantime, the Canadian didn't question him doing so. It probably would had been the best for him to do the same.

He kept thinking about Delirious' note and what it meant. Logically he didn't own Evan shit it was the other way around if anything. He had no idea how to contact him, though, no matter how much he wanted to so he just moped around trying to adjust to his new working method.

As for the assassin, he did some jobs here and there, mostly avoiding Cartoonz at all costs. He still didn't explain to him what was his sudden runaway about, claiming that it was none of his damned business. However, nothing he did was enough to keep his mind off of Evan. He couldn't wrap his head around how he trapped him in such a trance and why was he not afraid of him at all. Evan thought he was normal and nothing to be freightened of. 

Delirious had to see him again to find out how so.

So he rummaged through his closet to find something decent to wear for once. Instead of his usual black pants he fished out a some dark gray jeans and put on a t-shirt that matched his eyes with a black leather jacket to top it off. A pair of sunglasses and he was good to go, a switchblade hidden in the inner pocket of his jacket just for safety reasons. 

It was easy to find out where Ave Corp got transfered to since the raid was all over the news. Evan's route to work was yet again sequential and easily calculable so Delirious wasn't surprised when he exited the office only ten seconds later than the assassin anticipated. The latter was waiting nearby on a bench fumbling with his -burner- phone so he didn't seem like a weirdo as he sat there. Some of the patrolling cops had their eyes on him throughout the whole wait, he had to remind himself that in his current state they had nothing on him.

Delirious cautiosly rose to his feet, lifting his phone up to his ears to pretend he was talking to someone.

"Alright, I'll be there." He said to the locked phone walking the opposite direction of Evan. 

As he was pretending to hang up the raven haired man almost walked past him without a glance in his direction. He'd had a stressful day, his button down shirt's collar was all over the place. Dark bags hung under his eyes, Delirious wondered when was the last time he had a good night's sleep.

Time to make a move.

"Evan?" Delirious' acting skills weren't the best but he tried and that's what counts. "I hadn't seen y-you in years, man."

Evan's attention immediately shifted onto him, he almost dropped his bag from that voice as he came to an abrupt halt. He quickly glanced around the street, brain subconsciously noting the vast number of A.P.D. workers. 

"Hey, man." He cheered, playing along to the long lost friend scenario. 

Wrapping him into a quick hug Evan could feel Delirious tense underneath his touch. Even so, the assassin slowly but surely did hug back to make the exchange look more real. 

"We're gonna pretend to do something in the direction you were headed, okay?" Evan whispered into the blue-eyed man's ear before he let go off him. 

Delirious nodded skin still tingling from Evan's breath ghosting over his ear, and let the other babble about some bakery he'd allegedly forgotten to go to, humming along every now and again. 

When they were finally out of earshot Evan couldn't contain his excitement anymore. A civil Delirious was walking beside him in blinding daylight, dressed all stylish and only looking around every three seconds. 

"Are you here because you said you owed me a favor?" 

The paid killer rose an eyebrow at him, gaze still on the road. "I never said that."

Evan shrugged as the asphalt crunched under the soles of their shoes. 

"You wrote it, though." 

Although, he had a point Delirious knew how to counter that.

"How are you so sure that I wrote that note?" 

The challenge was easy to beat Evan didn't have to think twice about the reply. "If you didn't, then how would you know that it was a note?"

"Cause I'm a ninja." Delirious managed to say that with a straight face as Evan chuckled at his words.

"No doubt." He muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.

They were getting further and further away from the subway station and from Evan's home. If it were anyone else he would'd started getting worried, but with Delirious it was far from that. He felt safe with the assassin for some reason. That couldn't be stated form the other side of the story. Delirious felt normal and less fidgety that's for sure.

"So what do you want then?"

Evan didn't think the reason behind this was valid hence why he didn't really want to use this favor against him. But if this gave him more time to spend with the assassin, then so be it.

"I want to hang out with you. Come up to mine, chat a little so we can get to know one another."

Delirious' fingers formed into a fist he dug his dull nails into his palm. Was Evan kidding him? Going back to that place to share personal information about himself? No thanks.

"Absolutely not." He mumbled with finality in his tone, ready to flee any second. "There's no way I'm meeting any of your -uh, acquaintances." 

God, this was such a bad idea. Since when did he develop the ability to feel remorse or care about any kind of ethical norm? 

Evan's eyes kindled as an idea popped up in his head. Well if he didn't want to go to his place somewhere else private would be okay, right?

"Alright, fine. One single date then. That's all I'm asking for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has any of you looked up/ know what acongojar means? If not, maybe you should- uh, I mean, no spoilers lol


	15. Date of Disaster

Horrified, Delirious came to a sudden halt almost walking into a lamppost. Who put that there then?

"You what?" He gaped at the other man.

A date? Evan was surely insane. And people called _him_ delirious. 

"We can go get some coffee. I'll pay if that's what you're worried about..." He shuffled his feet awkwardly, gaze darted onto the ground.

Seriously? He could most likely buy that place if he had the sudden urge to.

The assassin couldn't believe his ears. Evan had surely lost his marbles as he stood there in all his glory hands stuffed in his fancy pants pockets with that stupidly handsome sheepish smile-

"That's not why I-" Delirious sighed fixing his sunglasses with a swift movement. 

Maybe if he agreed to this Evan would stop trying to get hurt. Theoretically he wasn't, or well at least Jonathan didn't believe he did it on purpose but he did manage to do exactly just that regardless.

Mouth pushed to the side in thought Delirious murmured. "Alright fine." 

Evan had to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Come again?"

"I am not repeating myself. You'll get forty-five minutes. Sharp."

Before the Canadian could protest and complain about his current attire the assassin held a hand up in the air. "You better make 'em count." 

_Fucking hell, this was happening._

~  
They walked to the nearest café in relative silence after Evan ordered them some illegible sounding drink he excused himself to the restroom.

Delirious fidgeted in his seat. Even though he wasn't used to social activities, he removed his sunglasses when finally indoors not to seem like a total douchebag. What? He may have been a bit introverted - or completely anti-social- and totally secluded he knew it was beyond ridiculous not to. Cartoonz had lectured him on countless life lessons like this until he got fed up with his ridiculous ideas about the world and what can be considered as a main priority.

His jacket on the back of his chair felt further away than it actually was as the obnoxiously loud clock on the wall ticked away the wasted seconds. Speaking of which the walls were painted in a pastel pink color with a floral pattern trailing in every direction - it reminded the assassin of his long-lost sister. Frowning at the discovery he averted his eyes from the interior of the place and focused on the outside world instead.

Everything seemed oddly calm. He couldn't see thieves on their escape routes with handbags stuck underneath their arms or police shootouts within eyeshot - that was a good thing, the first one he could handle any time but the second? He avoided that as much as he could. Apart from the immense garbage on the sidewalk and the few bullet holes on the side of the building accross - were those shaped like a C? Oh the Cocodrilo scums- Acongojar looked like an ordinary city.

The shuffling of a chair snapped him out of his thoughts when Evan arrived at last. 

"Took you long enough." Delirious couldn't help but mumble the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

However, his breath got stuck in his throat when he glanced up to observe his 'date'. Evan looked fresher than he did before, his hair was neatly swept to the side, his necktie straight and collar popping. The sunlight from outside hit his cheeks just right, a golden glow floated around him like a heavenly haze. He was truly gorgeous there was no point in denying that now from the assassin's part.

"Is something wrong?" Mocha eyes held concern from the intense stare on him. 

Delirious cleared his throat, his straight look closed off and neutral once again. 

"Nope. Not at all." 

Their waiter saved him from further explanation as he placed the ordered beverages in front of the duo. 

"So what do you usually do in your free time?" Evan took a sip of his caramel macchiato as the other man stirred his white strawberry hot chocolate. 

The Canadian tried to keep it as casual as possible the avoidance of too personal topics was the right thing to do here. 

"Sleep." Came the instant reply, Delirious almost burned his tongue with his drink.

"Interesting choice." Evan hummed.

If he were going to play that game then there had to be another way to get some info out of him.

"I'd personally say I like aimless walks after sunset and video games but sleep is definitely amongst my five favorite activities. Well, at least when I can actually sleep not just stare at my ceiling until dawn. " A different approach but the blue-eyed man didn't budge. 

"But I'm sure you don't care about this, though." A nervous chuckle left Evan's lips, fingers playing with the spoon in his cup. 

Delirious nodded absent-mindedly. It was scary how similar Evan turned out to be to him, the assassin booked it as pure coincidence, though. Maybe he saw his bloodshot eyes and this was his way of manipulation. _Nice try._

"O-kay. How about pets then? Do you have any?" Evan smiled at him kindly.

He knew breaking him was going to be a tough one but he had to have a soft spot for something. 

"No." Not at the moment. "I used to have a dog." 

The black haired boy nodded the beginning of a tiny victory smile visible on his lips. "Mhm. What breed?" 

Delirious went over his answer here slowly - this hot chocolate wasn't half bad. "A pitbull terrier." 

The assassin reminisced about his babygirl, Maja, inside his head, too caught up in the memory to notice that his mouth twisted into a smile. 

Evan could get used to that look on him. It suited him quite well. The right corner of his mouth was curled quarter of an inch higher than the other side giving him a laid back façade.

"She was my best friend." Delirious admitted.

She really was. Before Luke trudged right back into his life, lingering around even after the break up with Jonathan’s sister. Maja was a very old dog, the only one left for him out of what he used to call his family. 

Evan smiled at him his expression radiating encouragement and gratitude. Delirious was talking to him, for real. 

And when he had no intentions to continue, knowing better than to do that, Evan didn't try to press any further.

"I had a cat named Devina when I was younger. I always thought she was a real badass, to be honest with you."

His grin widened when Delirious rose an intrigued eyebrow at his choice of description.

"How so?"

"She tended to smack dogs that annoyed her and walked around like she owned the place all the time. I wish I could have a feline again or a different pet now." His tone was wistful Delirious almost pitied him.

Almost.

He did notice the lack of animals in their more than decent sized apartment, though so he dared to ask "Then why don't you?" 

Evan shrugged his shoulders and finished his coffee - mayhaps a bit too soon. "I'm barely home. Work is stressful as it is and I don't want to bother Brock with this too. Plus pets prefer actual houses with, you know gardens and stuff."

Oh yes, the roommate, Delirious noted and glanced at the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes to go and Evan would leave him the hell alone. 

"Uh-huh." Was the most intelligent reply the blue-eyed man could muster.

"I won't bore you with my favorite color or passion for music but-"

"You play?" Delirious figured that time would pass faster if he actually elaborated. 

The other man was caught off guard by the sudden inquiry he tilted his head to the side like a curious cat and slowly nodded.

"I play the guitar and sometimes mess around with some beats on my laptop." Evan told him with a tiny shrug. "Lyrics are not my forte, though."

Songs, huh? Evan didn't strike him as the hopeless romantic type who would write music to pass the time or to charm someone. 

"That's for me to decide." The assassin stated folding his napkin into two, gaze fixated on the movement of his fingers. "You have any in mind that you've written?"

Evan thought for a moment trying to find something that was good enough to be mentioned in front of Delirious. Nope, definitely none at all. 

"Nothing worthwhile." He smiled sadly.

Most of his projects were still in the making. He never really had the time or patience to fully finish a song.

Delirious was about to strike up a speech about how Evan should value himself more and all that crap that he'd heard on Tv back in the day, when he caught a glimpse of movement from the rear-view mirror of the family car that was parked near the café. He saw the flash of a the infamous green shade that could only indicate one thing.

"I think we should go." He blurted out a, one, two, three, four - Jesus that's a lot- Cocodrilos dispersed form the alleyway across. 

"Why wou-" 

One lifted an assault riffle, gang members all lined up to strike and Delirious was quick to have a hand on the back of Evan's neck so he could guide him underneath the table if necessary. 

_For God's sake, not again,_ he thought trying to get the other man into cover as fast as he could before he heard the first shot.

"Everybody get down!" The assassin's shout faded away as the window's of the café shattered into tiny pieces.

He didn't know where his desire to help the others out came from but he warned them nonetheless.

Some customers cried out in fear the staff barely managed to duck behind the counter. Glass shards flew everywhere, as bullets slammed into the walls, breaking the mugs and cups on the neatly organized shelves. Delirious covered his ears as he crawled over to Evan who was squatting on the floor panic written all over his face, a piece of glass must've grazed him since crimson softly prickled down his cheek. Delirious inspected the gash for a second, noting it was nothing too fatal so he would take care of it later. He shuffled closer to him on his knees, pulling his jacket off of his previous chair. Adrenaline danced in his body, shaking from the abrupt release.

"We gotta go, you hear me?" He almost screamed into Evan's ears grabbing his hand to lead him to the back door. 

Delirious managed to locate the escape line when less than quarter of an hour earlier the other man left to use the restroom. He'd scanned the area just in case he had to run away and now he praised himself a little for doing so. Only for a split second, though, since they needed to move with somewhat clear heads.

They crouch-ran to the back door, Delirious pushing it open knife in hand with Evan trembling but hot on his tail. He took a last glance at the coffee shop when the other man was out too just to see gang members flooding the place. Not letting go of Evan he bolted towards the back streets of the Southside where he felt more at ease at all times. 

Something was not adding up or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him but he could've sworn this was not an accident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just can't leave them alone, can I?


	16. Deliri- ow

"Where are we going?" 

Evan asked the assassin out of breath after seemingly two miles of running. They were surely on the margin of the city.

"Somewhere safe." Delirious mumbled his paranoia rising. 

In reality, he had no idea where to go. Endless possibilities swirled in his mind about the situation none had a positive ending, though. He couldn't just take him home where someone could be waiting for Evan. Delirious' own flat wasn't even in the picture, _god, what if he was bugged?_

"Look, I'm sure no one is following us." Evan spoke up when they were walking down an alley hand reaching up to touch the dried blood on his cheek. 

Delirious with a final look over his shoulder extended his arm and managed to prevent the action by snatching him by the wrist. 

"Don't touch it. You'll make it worse." Came the scolding with a huff from the other side. 

No need to pick broken skin with hands full of germs and dirt, both knew that but the an urge was an urge.

"Alriiight." Evan draw out the last syllable, skin itching to for the assassin's fingers to entwine with his own. 

When Delirious noticed where the chestnut gaze was fixated, he let go of him to the other's dismay and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. 

The assassin was in a crisis situation. He gauged the probabilities and whatifs pacing in that alleyway with determination in his steps. Gray walls felt as if they were closing in on him even though they weren't even close to a dead-end. For once he couldn't rely on his own gut. His mind told him run and never come back but his heart said otherwise. 

Evan watched him cautiously not sure why the other man was so shaken up by this whole thing. He must've seen worse, hell even done worse...

"I should probably head home." The Canadian decided as he checked the time on his phone.

Delirious paused mid-step and balanced himself on both feet. He lost his sunglasses in the café so hiding his emotions wasn't so easy anymore. He looked taken aback from Evan's words and the raven haired boy didn't miss that worrisome expression.

"Evan, you cannot do that." The words rolled off his tongue with desperation, something that was beyond unusual from him.

"Why? Do you want overtime for our date?" The addressed man joked, about to apologize as soon as he spotted the disappointment mixed with everything but amusement in the other's eyes and frowning lips.

"Just shut up and follow me."

~  
He took him to one of his older hideouts which they were subconsciously approaching basically from the get go. It was an abandoned apartment on the top floor of a building far from the center of the town- perfect for having the high ground. The fact that the lock wasn't even intact didn't mean a surprise for the assassin. However, he did enter knife first just in case, and cautiously pushed the door forward.

Thankfully it seemed empty, one worn-out sofa standing in all its glory in the spacious livingroom. Delirious beckoned for Evan to follow, making sure that the Canadian was behind him at all times as they took careful steps further into the flat. Most of the wallpaper was plucked off or either burned out, there was barely any clean space on the walls. Dust bunnies - or rather rhinos- slept peacefully on the ground, the parquetted floor creaked underneath their feet.

"We should be clear." Delirious mumbled checking the bathroom and the bedroom - he even peeked under the bed too- for any tenants.

Evan nodded, arms wrapped around his torso, not sure what to do with himself as the assassin retrieved something from the bathroom.

Eyebrows furrowed, he watched Delirious carry a white box with a water bottle on top with him. He placed it on the couch, which somehow looked the newest out of every furniture piece, and pressed down on the shut blinds to look through them for a second, eyes scanning the streets below. 

"How did you know there was going to be a med-kit?" Evan cleared his throat - he felt dumb just standing there so he had to initiate some sort of conversation.

Delirious pulled back from the window and walked straight to the kitchenette and caught a hold of a chair to wedge it against the door. 

"This is one of my hideouts. No one ever tried to contact me here or found me in any was shape or form." He finally said, taking a seat on the couch and patting it's cushions as an invitation for Evan to join him.

The slightly shorter man complied, keeping a respective distance between them as he did so. Although, this newfound information sounded promising at first, he couldn't help but wonder why it was so vital to hide all of a sudden.

The assassin quickly checked the expiration date on both of the brought products and when he saw they were fine he popped the box open and looked for some sort of disinfectant and a gauze. He'd left the first aid kit here a few months back and he also kept still mineral water around since the tap water was cut off in the flat for obvious reasons. He could never know when he would have to come back and stay the night there and now his precautions came in handy.

"Evan, have you done anything - questionable lately? Like crime-wise." The words sounded worse than intended but Delirious couldn't care less as he wet a tiny piece of gauze.

The addressed boy met his eyes, flinching when the cold fabric barely grazed his skin. Even though it stung what had to be done, had to be done.

"Not that I know of. Just work upon work, that's what I do. Why?"

Blue eyes followed the movement, the assassin tried to be as gentle as possible with his swipes. A smaller cut on Evan's brow bone defaced his nearly perfect features, another gash in line with the first disfigured the side of his face. Delirious placed a hand on his nape to keep him still as he worked with the antiseptic.

"So you don't think there's anyone, y-you might've pissed off or somethin'?" 

Evan slipped his eyes shut, teeth clenched to be able to bear the pain better. Delirious was giving him an exploratory talk, beating around the bush without actually saying his point. 

"No. What, are you trying to imply, Deliri- ow." The corner of the gauze tickled the burning skin with more pressure than needed.

"Sorry." Jonathan apologized quietly and let the other man finished his question without touching him again.

"Nothing. Just making sure." He shrugged and patted around in his pockets.

He proceeded to conjure a lighter out of nowhere and pulled a metal bin from next to the couch. Holding the bloodied gauze above the latter, he set the pieces on fire and dropped them into the empty garbage can. 

Gaze fixated on the dance of the flames, Evan smiled to himself. The man beside him was beyond thoughtful or rather way too cautious he may never know. He cared about him, though and trusted him enough to enter one of his secret places and even looked after him which Evan was truly thankful for.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through this whole thing because of me." He said the exact words that had been lingering in the back of Delirious' mind.

They both had an inkling that everything that'd happened ever since they met was their own fault. Evan thought it was him being accident prone and the assassin automatically assumed he put the other boy at risk each time they got in contact.

"Quit apologizing for everything." The barely taller man mused over his next sentence. "Or- uh- is there something I should know about?"

Evan met his eyes once again, pupils a bit dilated in confusion. "In what sense?"

"Why did you apologize?"

Delirious believed his words he just wanted to make sure nothing was left unsaid that could potentially cause Evan harm. Not like he wouldn't go digging through Luke’s files about Acongojar's citizens later, but if there was anything menacing surrounding the brown-eyed boy he wanted to hear it from him first.

"Because I feel like every time we meet something horrible needs to happen or at least it sure as hell does. Like the universe doesn't want us to keep in touch." 

Practically, that was not true. Disastrous events followed them wherever they went, sure, but they had to keep it in mind: this was the factor that made their paths cross in the first place. Evan was worried for a second that he sounded too cheesy, until Delirious spoke up.

"Then why do you?" His valid question didn't earn a real reply.

"Don't you?"

Ocean blues narrowed for a second as he mulled over the answer. Lifting both shoulders momentarily, he tried to look casual by brushing it off. 

Of course he did. But he'd never admit that.

"It's not like I have a choice. It seems like I can't get rid of you no matter what." His chuckle made Evan smile, aware that this was the hitman's way of a halfhearted confession.

"Wasn't planning on doing so anyways." 

Delirious nodded in acknowledgement chewing on his lips in thought. He had to buy some more time before he let him go back out into such a cruel city.

The crack on the wall wasn't so intriguing anymore as he noticed how relaxed Evan became just by simple _friendly_ teasing.

"Will you tell me more about your music?"

Something sparked up in Evan's chest as he saw that uncertain look in the other man's eyes. He could talk about that topic for hours and he would gladly turn those sixty minutes into days if Delirious asked him to. Anything as long as he stuck by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So who remembers that Gta video in which Delirious kept appearing wherever Evan went then proceeded to tell him at the end that 'he won't ever get rid of him'? 
> 
> Yeah me too. :')


	17. Robolirious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's given up on chapter names lol?

From then on Delirious kept a close eye on the other man. Evan gave him his phone number after thirty minutes of conviction about another selfe-defense class saying that it was easier to negotiate about the date of their meeting(s). The assassin reminded him to be careful, he even escorted him home just to make sure no one out there tried to go after him. 

Thankfully, no hidden traps, mines or fine concealed bombs awaited for the Canadian just Brock who rushed to his side as soon as he laid eyes on Evan's scars. Delirious was long gone before the worried man could spot him in the doorway - he wasn't so keen on having yet another awkward meeting with Brock, plus he'd already had enough human interaction for the day - only a tad bit regretful for disappearing on the raven haired man once again.

Delirious paid Cartoonz a visit afterwards with a steady alibi: he was intrigued about possible new tasks - he took a detour before though so he didn't have to prance around without his mask anymore. He felt naked when he wasn't wearing it, like an alpine bovine without a cowbell - able to live but unusual for the eyes. 

When he climbed up the back ladder only the moon illuminating his steps he conquered an obstacle. Luke’s window was surprisingly shut, as if he were no longer expected nor welcomed in his apartment. The assassin shooed the thought away - nonsense wasn't needed right now- and tapped on the glass surface twice. 

However, instead of the trustworthy bearded man, a pair of pine green irises emerged from the kitchen and peeked in the living-room, head tilted to the side as Ohm examined the source of the noise. 

Not sure what to do Delirious raised a hesitant hand and gave him a tiny wave then motioned at the lock so the other man didn't have to reconsider his next move. Ohm let him in, overly enthusiastic as he did so, he immediately started babbling about not having seen him in ages but Jonathan mostly tuned him out, steps cautious, sizing up the scenario. _Why the hell hadn't Luke came and greeted him yet?_

As he waited for a breaking point he noticed that something felt off. The apartment looked different, a few pictures of the couple was now hung on the walls, cushions and other knickknacks indicated that - that Cartoonz no longer lived alone. That wasn't right. It couldn't be? How the hell was he supposed to keep on working for him if he had a - a _liability_ like Ohm lying around?

"Delirious?" 

The brunette must've been calling his name for some time now when a pair of ocean blues snapped back to reality, head jerking in the general direction of the sound.

Eyebrows knitted together he finally reacted. "Huh?" 

Ohm flashed him a polite smile and told him again in his oh-so-silky tone. "Luke has been worried about you. Is everything okay?"

Now why would he answer that? He had no connection to the mediator's boyfriend apart from, well you know, him being his best friend's partner so he didn't feel the need to do so. He didn't owe him an explanation, or anything for that matter. 

Delirious shrugged and glanced at his gloved fingers that were holding onto the arch of the wall between the kitchen and the living-room. The polyester fabric felt itchy against his windtorn skin, he couldn't remember the last time he washed them either. Maybe when he took care of someone by his favorite method a few months back... The twitch of his index finger made him remember why he was here in the first place.

"Yeah, sure... Where is he by the way?"

Although, Ohm tried to meet his eyes when he answered Delirious couldn't be bothered to look away from the fascinating goosebump-like texture of the sunset yellow paint of the wall. 

"He left about an hour ago to meet with some old friends he said." 

Delirious nodded with a hum - old friends, huh?- and made his way over to Cartoonz' computer. He just hoped that his brother from another mother didn't try to get into trouble.

"I'll check something real quick, okay? Luke usually let's me do my thing if he is busy." A casual lie slipped through the fence of his teeth as he switched on the Pc and the monitor.

"Really? I thought it was locked by fingerprint security."

_Oh fuck._

When the screen turned to a bright angry shade of red Jonathan panicked and quickly jumped up from his seat.

"Yeah, shit- I- uh forgot. Forgot that was installed." He murmured voice a pitch higher than intended. "Just tell Luke I was looking for him please." 

~  
Delirious disappeared again without any trace lingering behind him. Well at least he removed himself from Cartoonz' life for some time again not very fond of the idea of another action behind his back. 

Having absolutely nothing to do he texted Evan two days after their 'date', words brief and straight to the point.

**Gun 'n Fun 22:30.**

So there he waited in the back alley, leaning against the wall by the trashcan they'd hid behind once. Hands in his jeans pockets, thumbs sticking out he observed his feet and the scenery around him. He'd already checked the inside area, this time it was completely vacant a very few dummies remained along with a couple of different sized targets and an empty soda machine at the back. 

As the clock hit 22:35 Evan still hadn't arrived which made the hitman worry a tiny bit. The seemingly younger man was famous for being exact so his absence felt forbidding. Either something happened to him or he once and for all gave up on their secret rendezvous.

Delirious was about to leave for good when he finally heard footsteps near the range. Luckily it was indeed Evan who shoved up, steps wary stance all the same until he spotted that familiar dirty white hockey mask with the red stripes.

The latter thought they had been over this, but if hiding his nearly perfect face was what made him happy then so be it. 

"Hey." Evan smiled tone low, having noticed how Delirious in no way shape or form liked to be noisy. 

The assassin nodded at him as a greeting, holding the door open for him. "Shall we?"

The slightly shorter boy didn't have to think twice to enter, he let Delirious lead him to the actual target practice zone, though, studying the interior of the place. Berry red and navy blue circles decorated by bullet holes awaited for them, some of the divison walls missing, as the assassin whipped out a whole weapon arsenal from underneath his jacket. A small revolver and a submachine-gun rested in his gun belt and another pistol hung on the inner side of his top. He carefully laid them down on the counter between the actual shot territory and the booths, his hand hovering above them all for a split second with a gracefully draw of his arm. 

"Chose one." 

Evan eyed the pistol - that's the only gun that he'd actually held and seen from up close before- then hesitantly picked it up. He turned to face the other man, who had vanished in the meantime then proceeded to come back with noise cancelling headphones, and showed him his choice.

A quick walk-through of the safe way of holding it and a thorough tutorial of loading the pistol Delirious placed the headphones on Evan after he'd slipped on his own and gave him see-through safety specs.

Both hands with firm grips on the handgun Evan lifted his arms and aimed it at the closest target to him. He could feel Delirious' presence behind him, his body heat burning his skin as he took a step closer and placed his own fingers atop his to guide his arms a little higher to change the angle. The assassin's flat stomach flush against Evan's back Delirious told him to fire.

And with shaking fingers he pulled the trigger. As the bullet flew it felt like everything turned into slow motion they both watched in anticipation where it would lodge itself into.The pistol kicked back a little, the sound ear-splitting even though it was muffled. Fast forward to the impact, Evan almost hit the bull's eye, he put the safety on fast and celebrated his shot by a huge grin, he would've turned around straight into the other man's arm if Delirious weren't holding him practically at arm's lenght.

"Oh my god, did you see that?" He enthused with a look over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Delirious mumbled, letting him be satisfied with himself no matter how his aim would've been completely off without guidance. 

"It was alright." He added too low for Evan to hear with his ears covered.

The skilled shooter took a step back and spoke out as the other closed his left eye to focus better.

"Now try without me."

~  
Approximately fifteen attempts later Evan had to admit that aiming wasn't one of his strong suits. He could handle magazines, even got used to the harsh sound of a shot and wasn't so nervous to fire anymore especially when Delirious brought out a silencer too. A couple of stomach, two shots to the heart, but somehow he couldn't aim for the dead center of the dummy's forehead.

The assassin watched him from the side, always making sure that he would not harm himself nohow. It was amusing like a reality show of a newbie who couldn't wait for the end of his criminalization. How absurd yet fascinating, Delirious thought impressed by his persistence. 

"Okay, my arms are about to fall off. I think I'll take a quick break." Evan emptied the revolver that he'd recently befriended and discarded it onto the counter along with his safety equipment. 

Delirious flopped down beside the guns and did the same stretching his arms as if he were the one doing the hard work. Evan joined him, he sat on his other side away from the weaponry, thighs accidentally brushing against the blue-eyed man's.

"Can I ask you something?" The Canadian broke the momentary silence gaze fixated on the rubber part of his Converse sneakers.

Delirious replied with a shrug. "Shoot." 

"Why did you want me to broke in here a few weeks ago?" 

The question had been on Evan's mind ever since they'd been here. Someone like Delirious surely knew the right people to be able to enter such places.

"I know the previous owner of this range thingy and it was- it was closed for financial reasons or some shit, and I-" Delirious slowed down with his speech, trying to say something believable as to why. "It was a test. If you were like bluffing or actually great at picking locks." 

_Or rather ' I was too lazy to do it myself and too anxious because of the preparation of your friend's assassination.'_

"Fair enough." Evan nodded with a smile and motioned at his mask. "Can I?"

Delirious lifted an eyebrow, bad thing the honey-eyed boy couldn't see it. "Is it necessary?"

Evan retreated his hand and dropped it into his lap with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I just thought because I've seen you before, you wouldn't mind. You look kinda scary without actual expression and with those ice cold blue eyes of yours." He chuckled at the end remembering how chilly the plastic thing felt against his neck at one point during his training.

Delirious' hands acted before his brain could fully comprehend the command and undid the knot of the mask's strap. The hider of his emotions ended up in between two guns and the assassin turned back to face him.

"You are not from around here, are you? Your accent is different than the one we locals have so..." It was 

Evan's turn to answer some questions. 

"Yeah, no I'm not. I'm Canadian."

"Thought so." Delirious muttered curious to hear more about this eccentric kid.

"I saw the daylight first over there but my family moved here when I was five. Were you born here?"Evan picked up on the southern sound back when they met for the second time. 

Delirious nodded, making sure he didn't let anything slip out that shouldn't. 

They made small talk from then on, Delirious learned that Evan was five years younger than him as the other had got to hear about the assassin's original dream job as a video game designer. The latter finally let Evan know about some of their similarities for the other's delight and wasn't half surprised how his eyes more often than not slipped down onto his mouth as he spoke and vice versa. He didn't feel like a robot for once programmed to kill and forbidden to do anything else, since Evan managed to achieve something that only Luke could on his better days: make him laugh. But then again he was the one who chose the sinner lifestyle - that wasn't a hundred percent true he purely didn't have a choice... -and it was for the best if he learned how to forget what feelings were.

And when Evan let out one of his beautiful rich laughs head falling back, due to a slip up in Delirious' words, the assassin disoriented from these newfound realizations, did something inconceivable. As the Canadian recovered from his impromptu hysterics he found his chin between two fingers. Locking eyes with the dark-haired man, pupils dilated, he let Delirious guide him until he felt a pair of lukewarm lips against his own. Eyes instantly shut, he wrapped his arms around Delirious' thin frame and didn't have to think twice to open his mouth against his to let him in.

But when Delirious felt the effect that kiss had had on him, and all his repressed emotions that were stored in the form of nonchalance and ignorance started seeping through his bones from his fingertips to his toes, he gripped Evan's wrist to stop him from taking anything further. He pulled back, lips swollen and guard down for once in his life, seeing that pretty face, he couldn't say what he wanted to say and dove back in for another kiss instead.

And neither knew this was the beginning of their downfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shall I make 'em do naughty things?


	18. He Was Fine, They Were Fine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this is bad. I had a math exam yesterday and for a soul who is only compatible with subjects of humanity it drained all my energies lol.

Evan smiled into the kiss, hands sliding down onto Delirious' hips, eager to be doing this. This wasn't a one sided affection and the Canadian couldn't be more content about the confirmation.

He opened his mouth further apart, tasting the assassin's tongue as their lips overlapped one another. Gloved fingers held onto his shoulders as Delirious climbed over to straddle him. Between the latter's knees Evan squirmed, skin burning from the way the other man was touching him, feeling him up with his palms as he held the American in place, still giving him space to move around, though- and to occasionally roll his hips- making sure he wouldn't fall off. The younger of the duo would be lying if something asked him and said he never fantasized about this countless times before.

On the other hand, Delirious' mind went completely blank. The range got way too hot all of a sudden, and his clothes too tight. He could only focus of the pressure against his lips and the -mostly sporadic- coordination of his limbs. Silky black hair felt way too soft to be legal against his fingertips- he'd discarded his beloved gloves in the meantime- all he could see was Evan even behind his closed eyelids. He caught the bottom lip of the man underneath him between his teeth for a split second, head falling back when the other boy pulled away and left a trail of kisses on the side of his neck and brushed the sturdy fabric of his t-shirt aside to get more access to his collar bone. 

Delirious' whole body jolted when Evan slipped his hands into his back pockets, squeezing his ass whilst gently biting down a sensitive spot just below his jaw. 

The sudden clatter of metal against hardwood made them both jump, lips no longer touching the other's body in any way shape or form.

"Jesus." The assassin hissed, seeing that he managed to knock down one of his favorite guns.

When Evan's gaze followed his own and landed on the object they could both feel an unwanted tension seep into the room. The seriousness of the situation sank in slowly, leaving their stomachs in knots, one from nervousness and the other for stepping over his own boundaries. 

"I-uh" Delirious shook his head in a weak attempt to clear his mind.

He didn't meet Evan's eyes as he hopped off of him to retrieve his weapon, the brown gaze lingered on his form as he did so. He was only a fri- an acquaintance, a prodigy of his if you will, so they should not be doing this. _They really shouldn't._

"L-l-look we should - we should leave." The assassin managed to get out ready to pretend as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

"Sure." Evan frowned, tone unintentionally sarcastic as it cracked at the end. "Hang soon?"

Delirious geared up, hiding his arsenal where they belonged as he mulled over the answer.

"I don't know about that." He mumbled and slipped his mask back on, wiping off the counter they sat on with his hoodie sleeve.

With a quick look around he made sure he didn't forget anything and made a bee-line towards the door. With the wooden barrier closing between the two, Gun 'n Fun wasn't the only thing that was left behind empty.

~

No matter how hard Delirious tried he couldn't bear the days that went by without Evan. He had to contact him again. Without an actual phone or any sort of social media account the other man called him ancient - like come on now who (with a well paying job I'd say) doesn't at least have a phone in the twenty-first century, he reasoned- it was also extremely difficult to do so. So he stuck with the old-fashioned way- no, not letters- he left a note for him again, his burner phone that had Evan's number in having been thrown out some time ago.

They met up at the old hideout of the assassin's three whole days after the _incident._ The first few minutes were awkward, Evan tried to make small talk as Delirious led him to the roof, face bare and decorated by a slight stubble.

"So how have you been?"

"Fine." Came the brief reply from the always closed off man as he jammed the trapdoor above them open.

They took a seat near the ledge, a true panorama view of the city of grime was traced out around them. Neon signs under orange skies popped up every now and again in the distance, some indicating run-down brothels, as the others showed skimpy bars and strip clubs nearby. If it weren't clear for Evan before it sure as hell was now that they were in fact in a red light district. But then again which area wasn't one of those here?

"I'm sure you're a busy man in a town like this." 

The Canadian's remark earned a side-glance and a shrug.

"I suppose." 

After that they fell into a comfortable silence, just observing the area around them both in a different world in their own minds. However, Evan couldn't really stand the mute lifestyle Delirious was so keen on living. He tried a different approach, the same as he did in the café - he started talking about himself so that maybe, just maybe, the local man beside him could relate to something and add to the given topic from stories of his own. 

The assassin heard about the first meeting of Brock and Evan in college and the tale of their numerous adventures together. Delirious listened, all ears and thoroughly interested to learn about such a strong bond. This was a new concept for him, sure he had Luke but nowadays the man meant more harm for him than good and that's never pleasing. He kept on avoiding him like one would the plague, since facing him would've meant the possibility of the exposure of his and Evan's - whatever they had going on.

In any way soever he couldn't help but ask.

"And he doesn't know where you are right now, correct?" 

Evan nodded positive that this was the right answer here. "He has no idea who I'm with, or well the truth about it."

The assassin played with the loose strings of his hoodie in thought. If they were so close and trusted each other with everything then why the hell was Evan doing this? Delirious couldn't be so important to ruin a friendship over, could he? He hoped that wasn't the case. ~~For now as it became a habit to lie to his own mind~~.

The blue-eyed man turned the upper part of his body towards him for his next question. And oh boy was he full of them, and Evan almost had the answer for them all. Almost.

"Does he think you're with like another friend?" 

The concrete felt uncomfortable, rather shrewd underneath them, the mostly broken windows below creaked as the wind gently pulled on them, making a ghastly sound as the sun dipped down over the horizon.

Evan didn't meet his eyes when he mumbled his next words. The streetlight on their left looked fascinating, he didn't have the heart to look away in case it miraculously turned on if he did. 

"He thinks I have a boyfriend. This way he understands why I don't want him to know who I'm meeting up with just yet." The admission made his cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Neither had to be reminded of that status not being too far from the truth. Delirious thought if he didn't think about it he was fine, they were fine. They- no, he, and him separately, definitely. Evan didn't matter, no, only his wellbeing and safety, sure. 

"Makes sense."  
~

They made a habit out of their meetings. The pattern was random, practically all over the place, mostly because Delirious didn't trust consistency in general due to the risk of it rising suspicion in someone. The location's varied from Madera Park, through Evan's window to the hideout. 

"Yeah, I broke my arm twice and sprained my ankle like three times when I was younger." Evan snaked his arm around the swing's chain they were currently swaying in lazily.   
"I used played hockey so that's not even a high number." 

Delirious chuckled, the unique sound ringing out in the abandoned playground of the park. This was like the only place which weren't claimed by a gang yet. The assassin wondered when they pollulated so much. 

Back to the present, Evan twirled around a few times with his seat making the chains entwine in front of him then let himself spin in the other direction. Sand crunched underneath his shoes and the metal warp squeaked. 

"God, how Canadian are you?" The assassin giggled now, watching the raven haired man get dizzy and almost fall off of the swing.

"Fuck you, that's only one overly stereotypical thing." Evan's tone held no malice behind it as he playfully shoved at Delirious' shoulder.

The assassin shoved back just as gently and hummed. Since when did he didn't mind unexpected touches? _And god, why did he have to play along too?_

"Well, we normals, ya know Americans don't do this shit either" He made a circling motion in Evan's direction "like you snowmen." 

The addressed boy flashed him an 'are you kidding me?' look and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Wooow. Racist."

With furrowed eyebrows the assassin gaped at him. "How?"

"It is." Evan left no space to argue even though he didn't believe him. 

Surely every normal kid used playground equipment inappropriately at one point in their lives. 

"Anyway, how about you any odd injuries, broken bones?"

Delirious jumped back on track too, mindless conversation were better than this cutesy shit, he thought. 

"My knees almost always hurt from climbing too much shit. But I guess I've never broken anything, actually." Even he himself was surprised by that discovery, no wonder why Evan didn't believe a word he said.

_Like seriously Evan, he was just so damn agile, and cunning okay?_

~  
Delirious had no time to knock on the window pane and Evan had already opened it for him. He swiftly slid in at an ungodly hour of the night, having missed - no- having been bored and suffering from the traces of insomnia, his first shot was to drop by since the Canadian could keep him occupied for days if wanted to.

"Hey, I didn't expect you to visit until like Friday." Evan smiled voice low so they wouldn't wake Brock and patted his bed beside him to beckon for his guest to sit.

Delirious got the hint and tiptoed accross the room, carefully taking a seat on the other man's side.

"I know, I was just- I was bored." The reasoning was for himself if anything.

Delirious' eyes roamed around Evan's little nest he'd gotten familiar with within the past few weeks. He wasn't an admirer of the idea of meeting up here that much but it was safer than the rest most of the time and that was his main priority.

"It's a Wednesday and I have work tomorrow. I'd love to talk to you until sunrise but I'm not sure I'd be able to stay awake at the office later so we better make it quick, or-" Evan's words got stuck halfway through when he saw Delirious' frown.

He looked like a sad confused puppy. He may have looked cute as hell, Evan couldn't let that happen. He wasn't going to be someone to cause a broken soul like him any more harm.

So with a soft smile, mind changed he stated. "You could stay the night, I'll call in sick tomorrow."

Delirious tried to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach after his words as he made himself comfortable for a neverending tale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ps: Evan's new GMod thumbnail, like hello? If that doesn't scream 'Delirious is gonna be the death of me' then I don't know what does.


	19. Embrace

A brush of their thighs, shoulders bumping together, Evan's fingers catching his with his own, Delirious couldn't bare the tension anymore. He knew his past in and out, heard about his monotonous working habits every single day, yet never got bored of what Evan had to offer him. The feeling of the thick walls he'd been building for almost a decade, crumbling down, a row of bricks falling off with a loud bang every time they met and he let more and more on about his own life was scary at first. However, with the Canadian boy the assassin learned to embrace his past -with only one exception, possibly the biggest missing piece of his puzzle- and to trust again. If it weren't for Evan's sincerity, the genuine interest he showed him every time he opened his mouth, maybe it wouldn't have been so easy to let his paranoia go whenever they were together. 

"It's Jonathan." One night he blurted out as they sat on Evan's roof, having heard his street name on way too many occasions from the wrong people in town. 

He didn't want to associate the twenty-six-year-old with those criminals so he told him, he had to.

"Come again?" Evan smiled at him brightly, not following his train of thought.

"That's my name." Delirious mumbled as he basked in the sun that was slowly descending. "Like real name, I mean."

"Jonathan." Evan tasted how it rolled off his tongue, the owner of the name met his eyes.

He couldn't remember the last time someone called him that - apart from Cartoonz on his more fragile days. Howsoever, this felt nice, it sounded pleasant in Evan's tone, he was sure he could get used to it.

"So did you just give me the heads up to address you like this from now on?"

"Sure." The assassin nodded, sight searching chocolate brown eyes for nothing in particular. "No, actually, I'd love that. I- I can be Jonathan for you."

Evan's grin widened as he reached for his hand without hesitation. Grazing his cold skin with his thumb, Jonathan wondered how many of these moments he'd be able to stand or experience. 

The former nudged the other with his knee and said. 

"So your gonna be the Jonathan to my Evan, then I guess I'll have to come up with like a - gangster name to match your Delirious." 

Blue eyes squinted as he snorted from the absurdity of that sentence, no matter how sentimental it was supposed to be - or at least the beginning of it, he didn't see the need for such a gesture.

"Uh, like my gamer tag Vanoss." He briefly explained where that username came from.

Delirious nodded along to the story with a small smile, his own question not leaving his head.

"That's actually cool, I like it. But why would you want that? That's like stooping down to my level of outcast- ness?" 

Evan's smile faltered a little, he tigthened his grip on Jonathan’s hand as he spoke his next words.

"No, _Jay_ that's nonsense. You are a good person just happened to born in the wrong town at the worst time period." He reassured him and even though half of this was only a speculation, he wasn't wrong. "I want to get on your level of coolness." 

The assassin had no idea how his friend managed to say the last part with a straight face but he appreciated the whole speech nonetheless. Plus that nickname was new and he did not dislike it.

"I don't get why you trust me so blindingly, nor the reason you think I'm something more than a cold-blooded hitman." 

Evan visibly swallowed hard, neither missed the tiny twitch of his thigh as he was thinking about a decent reply with his mouth pushed to the side. He didn't want to let on too much but saying too little - clichés thrown out the window- wasn't in the picture either. Delirious needed some emotional support and Evan was willing to give it to him. He shouldn't feel like he wasn't human anymore, he really shouldn't. 

A deep sigh and "Even before you told me what you did, I knew you weren't a soulless psycho. You saved me on countless occasions and I could see your urge to help out others too but didn't always act on it because- well, God knows why... Possibly since you thought that wasn't you."

Jonathan shook his head, running his free hand through his hair to push the strands back, nostrils dilated a from how hard he concentrate on breathing.

"How? Just how can you be so damn positive about this whole thing? You don't even know the half of what I've done..." 

Evan could see a storm coming from the nervous look that disfigured the other man's pretty features.

"Then tell me."

"Evan, you don't wanna know." 

"Okay." The addressed boy nodded in acknowledgement. "If that's your wish, consider this forgotten. I do not want to know." 

Delirious smiled at how playfully the Canadian could handle this. This man was a crossword puzzle and spelling nor words in general were Jonathan’s favorites so solving him could wait, he decided. He just had to take one step at a time to get closer to the solution.

"I have a sister." He started the story he'd chickened out of telling twice before. 

And Evan listened through the whole thing. Heart breaking as he processed the details slowly, trying to picture the woman in question.

_Delilah was only four years older than Jonathan. They were good siblings, loved each other despite their flaws practically through thick and thin. With their mother's death after the boy's fifteenth birthday, and their father's leave before the tragedy, she was the only adult around until he turned eighteen. She always had his back as Jonathan had hers, he was there for her when she went through her first ever breakup with the one and only Cartoonz himself. She worked on her career, on her way to a bachelor's degree, whilst helping her little brother with his high-school finals._

_First week of college and Delilah met a boy. Jonathan had a feeling he was bad news from the get go, by the way he walked, by the way he talked. And he was right, he got mixed up in the local mafia's business - thank god those scums changed their base and transfered their operations two cities away-, her newfound boyfriend promised her to stay away from them both until the whole thing ran it's course. But Delilah was in love, mind too clogged to bare his absence and ended up kidnapped and tortured for almost two years - Jonathan dropped out of college in the meantime, living off of their savings, only spending as little as possible - until she escaped and disappeared from the face of the earth._

"I had no choice but to go begging to be able to pay our- my rent. No foster home would've accepted me, cause ya know, I was too old and I saw this- this poster with fifty bucks on it. I just had to injure some man and I'd be more than rich." He let out a sad, thoroughly sorrowful chuckle and glanced down the city of his misfortune below.

He still knew the man's name and the pained sound that escaped his lips, when his twenty-year-old amateur self knocked him out with a brick to the back of his head. The rest was blurry.

"I have a great memory when it comes to faces so I was sure I could do it. I wasn't thinking, I just needed the money, and I needed it fast." He bit his lower lip, long lashes brushing his sun kissed cheeks. 

"I had no idea where _she_ was - his voice quivered so he had to clear his throat to continue." Or if she was even alive. "

Evan had never seen him so vulnerable before, underneath the streetlights and dark skies he looked siren like with those trembling lips and moon-sized eyes. Evan couldn't help himself and sat a little closer to him and pulled him into a side hug, resting his head on his shoulder, happy that Jonathan didn't even flinch, nor went rigid under his touch like he often did before. He didn't say anything though, he knew no encouragement would make things better.

"So from then on things just gone downhill and you know the rest." 

Evan did. He even heard about Cartoonz, the assassin having mentioned meeting his now mediator in high school. 

"But I feel like it got a little better when I met you." Jonathan didn't dare meet Evan's fond gaze, afraid the other boy would see the same.

"I couldn't agree more."

~  
They never spoke about it ever again. As their meetings became more frequent the less Delirious worked. With a new purpose in his life - keep Evan safe and occupied- he no longer needed a full time activity, leaving Luke hanging each time he tried to reach him. However, that man was persistent. 

In the middle of the night after a few hours in Evan's company he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw that the lights were on in his kitchen. Ready to throw a knife in the general direction of faint breathing, his best friend's familiar voice rang out in the apartment.

"Long time no see, Delirious." 

He couldn't escape him anymore, and his previous postponing didn't help this encounter he was sure of it.

"I was busy." He waved him off, trying to play it cool as he skipped to his fridge.

The southern friend raised an eyebrow at him in question. "With what exactly."

"Stuff. Want a beer?" The assassin dangled a bottle between his fingers trying to swirl the conversation as he pleased.

"No. It's goddamn three in the mornin'." 

Cartoonz deadpanned, fist swiftly connecting with the kitchen counter when Jonathan only muttered a 'Your loss' back facing the moderator. "Listen to me for God's sake."

"Look, Toonz, you're not my mother." The younger of the duo stated and waited for the other man to back down from the challenge. "I'm my own man and I do whatever I want to."

"You know what, Delirious? You're right. Just don't come running to hide behind me when no one wants to hire you. Your name is slowly disappearing in the underworld, just so you know." 

Jonathan wasn't sure to be glad about that or not. When he had to lay low before, he could've killed to achieve that but in general this never meant any good. With Evan on his side a small weight lifted off his shoulders.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

Without any sort of response Luke turned to leave, his childhood friend didn't let him go, though. God, Evan had such a horrible influence on him. Since when did he ever felt the necessity of an apology?

"Luke, I'm sorry. I just don't want to work right now. I'll tell you why later- I just, I'm not ready yet."

Brown eyes widened as that magnificent beard of Luke's lifted as he tilted his chin up. 

"Are you okay, brother? This is some strange behavior, I don't like seeing." The gentle clap on his back made him grin.

"I'm good. Don't you worry 'bout nothin'." 

~  
Except he wasn't. Not when Evan fell asleep on his shoulder one Saturday night in his hideout in the woods where he felt most at ease. He had no heart to wake him so he sat two hours straight, back pressed against the wall as the raven haired man snored softly, body in a twisted position, quite uncomfortable from the angle. 

When he finally stirred, he almost hit him in the head mid-stretch, lids still half closed. Thanks to Delirious' incredible reflexes, he managed to dodge him and caught his arm in his hand to lower it back down.

"Hi." Evan smiled sleepily, not phased by the scenario, Jonathan’s arms around him weren't something new.

"Hey. Did you sleep well?" Blue eyes studied him as he stood up to shake out the sudden pain from his back.

That wasn't a half bad idea, he followed his lead and reached for the sky too, popping some bones here and there.

"Yeah, totally. Sorry for crushing you, though." 

To show how sorry he was he wrapped his arms around his middle and pecked his cheek whilst still in the embrace. Jonathan felt his skin burn from the touch, he almost forgot to hug back before the whole thing was over. Evan didn't fully pull away though, he kept him close so the tip of their noses touched. Only a tad bit of a head tilt from one party and both would've lost it for good this time.

"I kinda like you, you know." Was whispered against his lips before he could feel a soft mouth on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we know the background story of Delirious, what happens next, you ask? Well, try to guess by the title lol.


	20. His Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I updated the tags and if you are not comfortable with reading smut, you should scroll down to the first time skip.
> 
> Sorry for not posting last Friday, I had some school stuff to take care of but hopefully this 3k+ chapter will be enough to make up for it:)

Jonathan didn't stop him this time. He knew he should but he couldn't. So instead he kissed back just as desperately, hands slipping down onto Evan's hips, knees brushing as he backed him up against the wall, which creaked silently from the weight against its fragile, old material.

The Canadian felt fingers circle his wrists before they got pinned behind his head, the slightly older man's tongue dancing with his own. He never felt trapped before but he didn't mind that Jonathan wanted to take control, it was more thrilling than anything, in the best meaning possible. 

The latter tugged on Evan's shirt, hinting that he'd like to get rid of that. Soon both boys were shirtless, barefeet and panting slightly from the lack of oxygen in their lungs. The younger boy's hands were trapped once again, Jonathan’s knee lifted up to put a tiny bit of pressure to Evan's crotch. He practically caressed the boy's lower part with his leg whilst gently bitting into his collar bone repeatedly whenever the other's breath hitched. 

_God it had been so long; way too long._

"Jesu- ah." Evan breathed out instinctively rolling his hips up for more friction. 

He was just as gone as the assassin.

His hand was soon in Jonathan's hair, gently tugging on it so he would stop his motions without having to speak. The blue-eyed man indeed paused for a moment, searching his 'friend's' expression about any concern. 

"Kiss me, you asshole." Evan chuckled, looking up at his trapped hands then back down at him with a challenging grin.

"Oh, cool. Okay." The brunette relaxed, reconnected their lips once more, brain catching up to the scenario and set Evan's hands free.

The latter snaked his arms around the taller boy's neck and wrapped one of his legs around him. Jonathan favoured that idea so he hoisted Evan's other leg up and stabilized him as the younger locked his ankles around his waist, never breaking the kiss. Evan wondered how he managed to keep them balanced and practically support his own weight with those skinny limbs of his. Must be his love for running, he thought.

When he was entirely steady Delirious gave a firm squeeze to his ass and stepped away from the door. Mocha eyes met navy in panic, lips parting, then relaxed again after he was slowly carried to the bed.

The urgency and haste was gone.

Evan wasn't ready to be dropped just yet, though, so no wonder he was quite suprised when it happened. He let out a little yelp as his back hit the suprisingly soft mattress, Jonathan standing between his legs, hands on Evan's pants zipper.

"You okay with this?"  
His tone carried pure fondness and care as he held eye-contact with him. 

Evan smiled up at him, heart ready to explode from how tender Jonathan seemed to be, and nodded with a silently and shaky 'Let's do it'.

"Okay." Delirious mirrored the expression, removing both their bottoms and pressing a small kiss to Evan's lips. 

He climbed onto the bed as well, made some room for himself between the other boy's legs and left a long trail of kisses from his neck down to the hem of his underwear, making sure to never linger for too long. Every section of Evan's body was beautiful to him, he had to treat his whole equally. Jonathan continued his journey down onto his inner thighs, which made Evan shiver and quietly curse.

"Hurry- hurry up." He demanded, slowly losing his patience.

Although he tried to remove his boxers himself, the assassin was kind of in the way so the American had to help him with a chuckle and a teasing kiss on the Canadian's belly afterwards.

The barely smaller boy was no longer nervous at all, the lust took over a once again. He needed this now. More than ever.

Jonathan held two fingers up in front of his lips, Evan got the hint and opened his mouth to swirl his tongue around them as the assassin's free hand stroked the skin just above his belly.

This truly wasn't planned nor well organized.

Blue met brown once more, silently asking for permisson as Evan was more than done. "I don't have a cond-"

"It's fine." He shrugged and pondered for a moment. "I'm clean. Are you?"

"Yepp." 

Delirious didn't have to expand his say to be pulled down for another quick kiss. Evan raised an eyebrow when he still stalled- what, he was taking ages, okay? Jonathan didn't hesitate to act this time.

Evan closed his eyes when a finger slowly entered him moving in and out. It was strange at first but eventually he got used to the stretch and how Delirious actually managed to touch him without flinching away. Although, being on the receiving end was a foreign concept for him, he couldn't imagine this happening the other way around. Not with Jonathan. Not yet at least. 

He could've sworn he lost consciousness for a second a few times throughout the process, especially when a third digit entered him, finding a spot which made him want more, made his vision black out for a second.

After a few more minutes of working him open, Jonathan pulled out his fingers and wiped them on the sheets without a care in the world. He lined himself up at Evan's entrance, propping himself on his elbows.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

The brunette carefully lifted both Evan's legs up and motioned him to wrap himself around him. Evan did as he was instructed and placed his hands on Jonathan’s back to pull him closer.

He finally pushed the head in, clenching his teeth from how tight the other boy still was. Unhurriedly thrusting himself all the way in, lips finding Evan's in the process, Jonathan had to distract him from the pain and steady the raven haired man's hips when he moved them around.

"Hey, easy. I don't want to hurt you."  
Those words meant way more than they should've.

Jonathan knew but he brushed it off. For now. 

He kissed Evan once more before he got the heads up to continue, pulling almost all the way out, he slammed back in, holding onto Evan's hips. The honey-eyed boy's embrace tightened around his hopefully soon-to-be-boyfriend's torso as the other's thrusts became more intense and then- he found it. He found his sweet spot which completely wrecked Evan. He dug his fingers into Jonathan’s flesh with the shout of his name. He couldn't hold back his moans anymore, driving the man above him crazy. Asking for more, he pushed up meeting his thrusts, creating a steady rhythm between them.

When Delirious felt he couldn't last much longer he gripped Evan's cock with one hand and stroked it up and down in unision with his pumps.

Evan had never felt so ecstatic before. The pleasure coming from two ways made him climax without warning with Delirious' real name on his lips. His walls clenched around Jonathan as he came down from his high, making the other boy finish as well.

~  
The assassin was a bit hesitant to wrap his arms around the other man first. However, he couldn't resist for too long as Evan rested his face on his bare, flat stomach, trying to even out his breathing, still a bit shaky in his post coital haze. So he did, an experimental finger grazing the other's toned bicep as he watched his relaxed expression from behind half-lidded eyes. 

Evan let out a content hum smiling from the unusally fond touch of the blue-eyed man. 

"You remember when I told you I liked you?" He spoke up, chin atop Jonathan’s sternum so they were eye to eye, less than an inch apart.

The latter chuckled and got lost in those chocolate brown irises for a second. Evan was even prettier from up close. He should observe him like this more often, he noted. 

"How could I forget? It was like an hour ago." He eventually said bumping his nose with Evan's for a split second. 

The raven haired boy's grin widened, he placed a gentle kiss on Jonathan’s mouth. 

"You wish it was that long ago." He added tone mischievous and teasing as always. 

Eyebrows furrowed mouth slightly ajar Jonathan frowned. "What's that suppose to mean?" 

"Nothing, Delirious. Absolutely nothing." 

Night fell in the meantime so neither were so keen on leaving the 'cabin' right off the bat. Their embrace felt way too good to be true, too perfect and peaceful. Something Jonathan hadn't experienced in a long-long time.   
And the way Evan looked at him just complicated things even further. Because he saw in those eyes what he didn't want to notice since he knew Evan could see the same thing in his own. Pretend that feelings didn't exist, was a motto of his.

"I guess, I don't just like you. I-"

_Oh god. Oh no._

Delirious almost jumped out from underneath him as he shouted 'Don't' voice all panicky and frustrated. 

Evan's smile faltered, he looked hurt and nearly heartbroken when the assassin rose to his feet and threw on his sweatpants. He never would've guessed Delirious was a 'come and go' kind of person. He plainly refused to believe it.

"Where are you going?" 

Jonathan's hands were shaking as he slipped on his t-shirt, an ache forming in his stomach from how forlorn Evan looked. He couldn't do this to him, but then again he couldn't -

"Jonathan, I asked you something." The Canadian's tone turned demanding as he sat up, a thin blanket covering his naked body. 

When they finally locked eyes the addressed man froze. His hands stilled on his hoodie's zipper and he couldn't pinpoint why he wasn't able to move a muscle. His body didn't let him leave even though his mind was screaming at him to run and never come back. 

"I- I don't know." He admitted voice low and high pitched from his despair. 

"Then stay." 

Evan extended his arm in an attempt to catch his fingers and pull him towards him but the assassin shied away from his touch.

His gaze searched his socked feet, wondering where his shoes went. "I can't." 

"Why?" Hope still lingered behind that question that Delirious didn't know how to answer.

"Because - I - morals and rules and I don't - I" Jonathan wasn't making any sense and he very clearly aware of that.

Evan quietly put his boxer briefs back on, and slowly approached the other man, steps cautious so he wouldn't scare him away. 

"Slow down, okay?" 

He gently caught him by his elbow and guided him back to the bed to sit him down. 

"Take a deep breath and please explain."

Jonathan nodded, questioning why he was still there and doing whatever Evan asked him to. The air suddenly felt colder as chills ran up their spines. Jonathan fidgeted with his fingers, Evan followed the movement, with his gaze, having kissed all of his tiny scars on his skin, his knuckles included. 

After a silence that lasted almost for a lifetime Jonathan got the curage to build a coherent sentence. "I don't get attached. I can't."

Evan nodded for him to elaborate, not yet satisfied with this brief revelation. 

"That's my number two rule. Never get attached and stay isolated so no one gets hurt who isn't supposed to. It's simple." He scratched the area behind his ear a little and shifted his eyes to catch a glimpse of Evan before he looked back down onto the floor.

He seemed to be in deep thought.

"The first one is to never let empathy take over my thoughts. This is how I survive, how I can keep doing what I do to get by." Delirious managed to keep his expression neutral almost impossible to detect any kind of emotion.

"What about your best friend, though? Why is he so special?" Evan was fully dressed now, he held his t-shirts collar between his fingers for a second.

He'd heard about Luke a couple of times now, it was clear Jonathan still kept in touch with him.

"He- he's an exception because he's like my moderator. Get's my contacts and everything..." He trailed off, not so happy with talking about his job at that very moment.

"So you are not a lone wolf like you pretend to be." Evan's thoughtful remark earned a quick nod.

"L-look, I didn't plan on bringing him into this but he just never gives up. He's a stubborn motherfucker to say the least."

Delirious couldn't postpone this any longer. If he was going to let him into his untouchable bubble he was going to go all out. So he walked Evan through the story of Cartoonz volunteering to work with him when the assassin had accidentally spilled the beans about his career plans a little more than half a decade ago. He hoped that Evan could see the difference between their friendship and the risk of a relationship.

Evan only understood Cartoonz' acts, though. Who would be able to stay away from someone so fascinatingly unique? He would've done the same if he were in Luke's place. _God, how he wanted to be in his place if that meant Delirious wouldn't push him away._

"I haven't been the bestest of friends lately, though. He just wants to know too much and I guess, I- you, - I couldn't tell him about you." He admitted, eyes searching the bumps and patterns of the floor. 

"That's another rule in some way, I'm guessing."

Jonathan sighed and bit his lower lip. "Yeah. Number three, if someone gets too close, cut them off."

"God, Jonathan, how many rules do you have?" 

Evan could pull his hair out in frustration as the other man started counting on his fingers and after seven he still didn't stop. "Jesus Christ..."

Evan couldn't wait any longer. His emotions ripped through his chest, knocking down and opening the floodgates as he watched Delirious get all confused and baffled from his lack of ability to do simple math.

"You know what?" Their eyes met. "I don't give a fuck. Screw them all. You clearly like me, or I'm either delusional, I don't care but there's no way I'm imagining this" he motioned between them "whole thing." 

Taken aback from the outburst Jonathan forgot where he left off his counting he had to man up and make eye-contact again.

"Don't give me that adorable look, god." Evan ran an irritated hand through his messy locks. "Just tell me you don't at least _like_ me more than a friend and I swear to god I will let you go."

Jonathan didn't dare open his mouth to reply. 

Evan huffed and shot up from his sitting position, in an agonized search for his sneakers. He almost fall face first onto the ground when he felt cold fingers on his hips.

"I can't because I'd be lying. And I hate liars."

Evan spun around with the widest grin, ready to kiss him, just to get stopped by a firm hand on his chest.

Jonathan didn't want to lie to him but that in no way shape or form meant he was going to let this happen.

"However, this doesn't mean we can ever be-" He physical had to force himself to say it. "anything."

"No. I won't accept that. That's like the biggest bullshit I've ever heard. You can't -"

Evan wasn't used to mood swings like this, he was on the verge of screaming and attacking Delirious. Not literally though, he could never.

"Evan, will you shut the fuck up for a damn second?" The assassin shouted back, gripping Evan's t-shirt on his chest. 

He crumbled the cotton fabric in his fist, the two boys practically shared air as he leaned closer in an attempt to seem intimidating.

"I am a killer, someone who means imperative danger. An omen, a fuckin' no go zone!" He drew out his words as if he were talking to a child. "And you are just you. You can have a completely normal life if you walk away now. It's simple."

"But-"

"No, you don't understand." Delirious shook his head, not leaving any space for the Canadian to object. "If somebody finds out about us-"

Evan took a step back and brushed his hand off of him. "No one will. You without your mask can have a normal life like I do!" 

Delirious' burner phone started buzzing, why and how the hell-?

"We will discuss this later." He murmured and turned away to retrieve the device from somewhere in the cabin, ignoring Evan's huffs and puffs.

No one knew this number - obviously. Unless-

"Hello?"

"Delirious, come to mine. It's urgent." 

Cartoonz somehow tracked him down again. And from the panic in his tone he had no time to mull over why.

~

He made sure Evan got home safely - he made him call Brock to pick him up in the city, good thing the sun had already risen by the time he got that urgent call- before he headed to Luke's apartment.

His best friend was frantic as ever, huge circles laid underneath his eyes that were normally full of life.

"Hey-" Before he could continue the bearded man snatched his arm and pulled him in front of his computer without a greeting.

He sat him down and pulled up an opened tab, pressing play on a - video?

"Cartoonz, what is this?" Delirious whispered as an empty alleyway was shown to him presumably filmed by a security camera, with a backdoor to some place in the frame.

Then the recognition hit him. "Is that-?

"Shut up and watch." Luke hissed, studying his best friend.

Jonathan started shaking as soon as he spotted himself with his mask on walking into the one and only Gun 'n Fun with Evan on tape.

"W-where did you get this?" His lips quivered, his neatly hidden secret world crumbling down behind his eyes. 

"Basically sent me the footage. And you, my friend, are in some deep shit." 

Delirious didn't understand, Marcell no longer owned the place plus he said he could visit still if he wanted to. He made sure to let Luke know that, purposefully avoiding the fact that he wasn't alone there.

"He sent me this because he wanted to warn you."

Jonathan did not like where this was going. "About what?"

"That your mysterious boy - whoever he may be- has a damn beautiful bounty placed on his pretty head."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of you were kind of right about the breaking point of their little disastrous on and off relationship. 
> 
> Usually I root for top!Evan but in this book he doesn't have the same energy as his boyfriend does lol.


	21. This Is Not GTA

Delirious froze. He almost kissed the ground from Luke's words, good thing he managed to undermine his first instinct which would've surely given him a whiplash. Spinning around in the chair he looked Cartoonz dead in the eyes.

"How much?"

His best friend licked his lips. "Five thousand."

_Holy shit._

Delirious clenched his teeth and gripped the armrests tighter. He could feel the ghost of a long forgotten feeling seep into his chest - god, he hated 'caring' about someone. 

"Well, we need a fuckin' plan then."

~  
Evan got cornered in Ave Corp's cafeteria by the people he'd least expect it, not even six hours had passed since his parting from Jonathan. Marcel and Tyler, two guys from the IT department - the latter having become a close friend of Craig's so it wasn't that uncommon to see him nowadays but Marcel's presence was new. 

"Hi?" He looked up at them from his half finished coffee that Brock had brought him earlier.

His room-mate believed Evan's alibi about how he'd been with his _boyfriend_ but the man had to leave for a family emergency that's why Brock was asked to pick the Canadian up. Speaking of which, Evan was still mad about Delirious' abrupt exit mid-fight. He would've tried to make him stay but the urgency in his tone and almost petrified look changed his mind. He was an assassin after all so whatever this was, he must've had a valid reason to flee. Besides, Jonathan didn't walk out on him at all, he even made sure Evan got to a safe location. 

"Hello." Marcel smiled and casually took a seat accross from him, Tyler mirroring his actions with less grace and more annoyance in those piercing blue eyes of his. "How's it goin'?"

Evan took a slow sip of his drink, then flashed a shy smile at the two newcomers, mostly directed at the brown eyed man, though.

"Alright. How- how about you guys?"  
Small talk is something he could deal with, Evan had always known but this felt different.

Although, the thought of an overly crowded cafeteria and no place to sit ran through his mind, he could see that was not the case nor did they have trays with them, so clearly they were here because they wanted something. He wondered what exactly.

"Pretty good, man. Have you seen the game last night? It was so-" Marcel's cheerful rambling got interrupted by the man on his left who slammed his hand against the cold tabletop.

Evan's eyes widened, he had to adjust his now empty cardboard coffee cup to prevent its fall. Marcel didn't even budge. He was used to this as it seemed.

"Cut the crap, Marcel." Tyler hissed through gritted teeth, voice low so the very few people, who lingered around and were eyeing them due to his previous motion, would lose interest. "No one cares about that stupid game, especially you."

He shot the addressed man a look and leaned closer to Evan as he continued, his gaze so intimidating the Canadian didn't dare retreat in his seat. He knew Tyler as a bit impulsive dude but this look was scary on him in all his six foot three glory. And Evan was the one -bravest of them all- sleeping with a serial killer. 

"Listen up, Fong or whatever your last name is." He finally made eye-contact with him, voice having a threatening edge to it as Marcel studied the scene from the side. "Stay away from Craig-"

Marcel put a hand on Tyler's bicep, squeezed and pushed him back a little. "No that's not why we are here. Although, it might be the best if you did."

Evan frowned at the words, puzzle pieces missing from the already gappy picture. With a quizzical look, eyebrows knitted together he turned to the elder of the pair again.

"What do you mean? Why?" 

"Don't act all dumb, bitch you ain't foolin' nobody." Tyler shot both guys a glare each, one for Marcel stopping him mid-rant, and one for, -well the general newfound dislike of Evan. 

"Wh-?"

"Your boyfriend wasn't happy either when he found out." Tyler added and shook his head in disapproval. "God, why do I even put up with people like you? You just don't know where you stand and when to draw the line... I should've known to never speak to you when I bumped into you on Á- " The boy with the chocolate eyes elbowed him in the ribs, he instantly squinted his eyes at Marcel.

"Yeah, right, I said nothing." He mumbled rubbing his knuckles merely out of habit.

Even though that last question was more of a rhetorical one Evan would've been more than pleased to know its origins and the right answer to it. Not to mention the fact that the giant almost blurted out something the Canadian had had suspicions about for months.

It was Marcel's time to inch closer to the dumbfounded twenty-six-year-old and talk all secretively.  
"Go home. He is waiting for you." 

"Who is?" 

_One cohesive sentence was that too much to ask for?_

"How can someone be such an imbecile?" Tyler searched for the answer in his friend's eyes but Marcel wasn't looking at him as he mouthed his next words.

"Delirious is."

~  
Delirious did in fact wait for him and Evan was glad he obliged to Marcel and Tyler's request, or rather demand from the latter's part. He had an awful gut feeling about the hazy situation and he really hoped that Jonathan would be able to make everything clear for him.

The assassin caught him a block away from the facility's building, spinning him around by his shoulder and bringing him into a hug. Evan could've sworn he caught a glimpse of a relieved smile on the blue-eyed man's lips before he closed the gap between them. The tiniest kiss on his mouth and he rested his head on his shoulder so he could speak directly into his ear. Only a part of this was an act to be quite frank. 

"Don't question it, just come with me." 

The taller of the two placed one last peck on his cheek and slipped his hand into his, trying to make their speed walking look normal. He seemed more observant than normal, he wasn't even wearing shades for a minimal incognito look so he could see everything as clear as day. 

"So how was your day, honey?" Delirious had to restrain himself from cringing at his cheerful tone and that horrible petname that slipped out of his mouth. 

"I- nice. It was great." Evan was taken aback how real Jonathan wanted to keep it look, he didn't miss the other's thumb lightly caressing his own. "Some of my colleagues are real weirdos, though."

The assassin hummed as they made a left turn, suprisingly still on a main street. "Tell me about it." 

"Oh I will. At home." He murmured an 'or wherever you're taking me' under his breath, aware that he had to maintain a lovey-dovey façade so he gave Delirious a side glance and a grin. "But we have more important things to do between four walls."

Jonathan didn't back down and played along to Evan's weak attempt of flirting and painted a smirk on his lips. "We don't need to be in a room, babe." 

And that was their cue to take a detour and disappear in a trusty alleyway.

~  
They ended up on the other side of the city, a part Evan had never been in. It looked somewhat normal, definitely not a gang territory nor the boujee quarter of the town. Delirious triple checked their surroundings before he typed a code into the intercom and pulled Evan inside after him. 

And for once this building actually had tenants, sounds of TVs, microwaves, hoovers and whatnot filtered through closed doors as they climbed up the stairs - Jonathan didn't trust elevators - one guy even greeted the assassin with a nod when they passed him. The walls were painted in a light caramel color it looked like a recent paint-job and the hallways were carpeted, functioning lamps kept the storey lit.

In the end of the third floor Jonathan fished a key-chain out of his hoodie pocket and unlocked the door on the far right without many difficulties. He quickly disabled the security system and ushered Evan inside, locking themselves in almost immediately. 

"Where are we?"

Wherever he looked all Evan could see was blue. The carpets, the dark navy sofa, the wallpaper. Only the kitchen furniture and the doors didn't have one tint of the color of the sea. 

"In my apartment." Jonathan admitted as he made sure that the blinds were down and all windows closed. 

It made sense. Delirious had told him how he prefered to live on a floor which was too high too reach from outside but not too high to escape from in case of an emergency. And the overwhelming shade of blue everywhere confirmed Evan's theory about the other man's favorite color.

"Sit." He ordered tone colder than intended as he studied Evan's whole, shoulders tense and pupils blown. 

The brown-eyed boy did as he was told, he carefully placed his butt on Delirious' sofa with the owner's eyes on him. He was the third person who was lucky enough to do so. 

"So, what's going on? We're finally going to talk about us or maybe the fact that two coworkers of mine practically attacked me in the cafeteria and talked nonsense throughout the whole exchange?" Evan tried to spark up a conversation, having high hopes to get answers out of the assassin. 

Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest and slowly sat down next to him, keeping a respective distance between them. 

"Evan, I don't know how to tell you this - but..."

Evan waited, he really did but Delirious didn't seem to be able to find the string of words he'd split into two and lost a few minutes before. 

"Do you know Tyler and Marcel?" 

The elder of the duo raised an eyebrow, head tilted to the side in question. However, before he could ask him about Tyler he remembered what Cartoonz had told him.

_There's a man on the inside, Wildcat or Tyler. He used to be in the Cocodrilos undercover, friends with Basically nowadays, and he could potentially help your boy._

He slowly nodded and took a deep breath.

"Evanyouhaveabountyonyourhead." He rushed through his say, lips trembling yet surprised that he managed to say the whole thing without misspeaking. 

It took Evan a minute to click what Jonathan just told him. He slowly opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out so he closed it again, then repeated the motion a couple of times. He'd never heard something so incredibly inconceivable and devastating at the same time. He should've listened and paid attention to those warning signs... But then again he wasn't that shocked how he should've been, he thought. Maybe he felt too safe when he was with Delirious.

"And it's all my fault." The assassin whispered and hid his face in his palms, fingers grabbing onto his roots, harassing his poor hair.

In the shadows of his livingroom he wasn't the same strong man he had to be on the streets. At least not when the most important person in his life was about to be taken away from him and he wasn't afraid to admit that anymore. He couldn't pretend that Evan meant nothing to him, not then, not ever again. 

"I told you that this was a bad idea."

"No- It can't be your fault. I- no." That's all what Evan could say before he wrapped his arms around the other man feeling the need of comfort as Jonathan was slowly breaking, closing in on himself again. "I'm sure there's a way we can like undo this. Like isn't there a duration period for a bounty?"

Delirious shook his head repeatedly and pulled away from the embrace to meet his eyes. _God, Evan made him so fragile. Pathetic._

"No this isn't GTA, Evan. This is real life. Sadly, your target won't just vanish after twenty-four hours or some shit." 

The Canadian thought for a moment, teeth sinking into his lower lip as he watched Jonathan rebuild his composure with breathing exercises. _God, was he breathtaking..._

"And can't I like pay it off?" Evan tried just to receive a sad smile from his crush. 

"Technically you could through an anonymous 'buyer'. But you don't have that kind of money." Delirious sighed and cursed himself for his feelings yet again. "But I do and I would pay every cent of it if I could. However, when a gang wants you dead, they won't back down that easily."

And the worst of the worst- the Cocodrilos- were still pissed at Delirious for eliminating one of their men, even though it was months ago and he meant no harm to them whatsoever. But revenge is revenge and Jonathan knew what that meant. He just wished they hadn't taken Gun 'n Fun away from him too. Like who invades a perfectly empty gun range- oh... 

Good thing that they hadn't had access to the security camera footage earlier and Marcel still did. Jonathan didn't want to think about the other version.

He tried to release all of the weakness from his body as he rose to his feet, tone calm again when he spoke. "Don't worry. I'll find a way to protect you." 

Evan appreciated that, he really did. 

~  
When he eventually fell asleep in Jonathan's bed having had an hour long talk with the assassin, Delirious didn't let his lids get heavy not even for a second, no matter how much he trusted his own place and its safety. He may have brought him into his own nest but that didn't meant he could stay without being 'supervised'. 

Half an hour or so later Luke dropped by to walk the assassin through some details that he'd managed to get his hands on about Evan's case, noting how convenient it was that the Canadian happened to have worked with Ohm.

"Yes, Cartoonz he was your boyfriend's desk-mate. You happy now?"

The bearded man only smirked a little and shook his head in feigned fury. "You're a reckless little thing." 

"Shut your damn mouth." Delirious whispered so he wouldn't wake Evan.

He'd told his best friend about their first meeting and how the younger man was persistent to keep in touch with him back when his internal crisis hit a new low on the previous day. Luke found this ridiculous at first and scolded Delirious for trusting someone like him but then he had to admit that the way the assassin talked about Evan was something he'd never heard before. And it made his heart warm. Besides, he kind of felt bad for not telling him about a notorious raid, so he dropped the topic, and thanked the heavens for not letting Delirious put two and two together back then.

"So tell me, why do you want to save his ass again?" The words were teasing, no malice behind them.

Jonathan couldn't help it. Luke was his best friend and his pent up emotions were eating him alive so he had to tell someone and since there were only two people who he trusted and one of them was deeply involved it had to be Cartoonz. It was harder to inhale, the simplicity of exhalation gave him difficulties too. 

"Because I love him, Cartoonz. I really fuckin' do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the last chapter, but oh well, my finger slipped so we still have more to go :D


	22. Caged

"So I did some digging and apparently those bastards think that your little boy-toy killed their newbie a few months back." Luke started when he finally managed to comprehend hie best friend's words.

"He has a name, you know..."

The moderator nodded, understandingly - he did, of course he did. Not just his name though, family background, friends, relationship status, music taste, general interests and likes... He had no idea what the assassin found so intriguing about him.

Delirious buried his face in his hands, elbows digging into the hardwood tabletop. He took a deep breath and slowly descended his arms with a frustrated sigh.

"This is such bullshit, man. I did it and they know it. That's why they want to take away the only person that matters to me." 

Luke rose an eyebrow at him, trying to lighten up the mood with some subtle banter.

"Wow, he is the only one?" He placed a hand on his heart as if he were shot. "Your words truly hurt me, Delirious." 

"Shut up, you know what I mean..." The assassin murmured and waved a hand in his direction without looking up at the bearded man.

Cartoonz loathed to see his friend in such a dismal state, he cut the crap and tried to ease some of his tension. "I hardly ever say this but you are right. The Cocodrilos are aware that you've done it they say that he was an accomplice of yours or some shit."

"But that's not true." Blue eyes shot up in disarray, he just wanted things to go back to normal. 

_But then again when was anything ever normal?_

"You tell me." Luke flashed him a weak smile and lightly tapped his arm in reassurance. "Seriously though, I think they just don't believe that you actually care about someone so they needed a different excuse to take him out if their first plan backfired."

"Well, I do care." He deadpanned, digging his dull fingernails into his palm. "I really fuckin' do. And if they lay one finger on him- just one, they'll regret being born in this damned world." 

"This bad, huh?" Chestnut eyes squinted in amusement, he would've laughed if his hypothetical brother's lover, boyfriend's - well whatever Evan was to him- life was on the line. 

"I could take 'em all out. I should actually..." Delirious trapped his chin between two of his fingers, listing his thoughts aloud, subconsciously waiting for the other man's support or help.

_Since when did he become so hostile? Oh right, when was he the opposite?_

Cartoonz gave him a doubtful look, knowing how Delirious hadn't been himself ever since Evan got into a picture. Something similar to his original self, maybe, but definitely not the hitman who lived without an actual goal in his life.

Before he could give him some sort of advice or constructive 'feedback' on his plans, he could hear the bedroom door quietly being opened.

"Hi?" Evan slowly inched closer to them, Jonathan’s shoulders visibly slackened as soon as a tiny weight of a hand landed between his shoulder blades. 

"Hey." He smiled and reached up to catch his fingers with his own and pull Evan to his side. "Come sit with us."

Cartoonz inspected him warily, it felt rather weird to see Delirious so content and relax under another human's touch. Not to mention he initiated the followup. Evan truly broke that man in the best way possible.

The latter let go of the assassin and before lowering himself down onto a chair he extended his arm towards Luke who firmly gripped it and shook it whilst holding eye-contact. "Nice to meet you I'm Evan." 

"First rule of the underworld, never let anyone know that." Cartoonz grinned and stated his own street name.

There was no need for him to cast Delirious a glance, he knew that the other man was giving him a death-glare.

Evan smiled back at him shyly, leg brushing against Jonathan’s as he finally got into a sitting position. 

"He doesn't have to learn that. Since he's never going to get in touch with anyone who's-"

Two pairs of eyes landed on him in question, Delirious shut his mouth mid-speech. Just two criminals at the moment, point taken.

"In the future." He finished his thought, surprised at himself how his hand instantly found Evan's underneath the table and linked their fingers together in the Canadian's lap.

They still hadn't established anything yet it was clear as day that neither wanted to feign nonchalance in the other's direction. It would've been no point and too much effort to conceal what they felt towards one another so why bother?

"Anyhow." Luke spoke up, full focus back on Delirious. "What's the plan, boss?"

"Protect Evan at all costs." 

The statement made the aforementioned boy smile, indeed pleased how Jonathan wasn't holding back anymore, not even before an outsider.

Cartoonz twirled a pen between his fingers and majestically let it roll off from his little one. "Listen, that's sweet and all, but do you have a real plan?"

"I mean beside from taking them all on my own-"

"No!" Even Evan himself was taken aback by his own exclamation, he quickly apologized and rephrased his thoughts. "You - you don't have to do that." 

There's no need to eliminate innocent people - oh if he knew... Nor anyone to be more exact.

"He is right, you know. That's practically suicide." Luke nodded to emphasize his words and studied both for a little as they all pondered about their possibilities.

"I- I'm sure I can get some help from somewhere." Delirious' suggestion came out more like a question than an actual solid point. 

"You are not a team player, are you though?" Evan tried to talk him out of it, circling his actual motive, hoping that the blue-eyed man would get it. 

"I-"

"No he's not. He doesn't trust anyone. Maybe you and I but that's all." Luke answered before he could protest and saw the shift in his best friend's mood just from his face alone.

Delirious was getting impatient and more and more desperate.

"I know some guys who would be more than willing to help but we're talking about a fifty plus member gang, which I highly doubt anyone would want to head on collide with." A small scratch of his beard and came an afterthought. "Not even Lui's people."

No wonder why Delirious chose to move here. His landlord was the ex-operator of an organized crime group and still had his connections, which could've came in handy if the assassin weren't so paranoid.

"Okay how about you just don't try to slaughter them all?" Evan directed his words at Jonathan, fingers grazing cold knuckles. "I'm sure we could negotiate with them or something."

"Reasonable but impossible. They don't play by the rules." Cartoonz sighed, phone already in hand and scrolling.

In Acongojar no one did. Putting hits on other people's head basically became a game, some people did it as a prank as others just straight up thought it was the easiest way to get rid of a problem. Delirious was certain sooner or later there wasn't going to be civilians on the streets only the masked could survive. 

_Wait. That's it._

Those navy blues lit up in pure hope. "I know what to do."

"We're listening."

~  
Evan held a golden brown paper thin plastic mask in his hands. Two tiny eyeholes a black beak and white under eye bags with a pair of feathers painted onto the strange shape he studied its string on the back from up close. He carefully put it on, adjusting it so his vision was clear, ready to see his reflection in the bathroom mirror - the only one Jonathan had in his flat.

"An owl? What made you think of that?" The Canadian chuckled - the mask wasn't half bad, the idea even better.

Delirious was satisfied by the fit as well, he shrugged his shoulders and tried to play it cool. "I don't know. I guess you just remind me of one because when you sneeze you always go 'a-hoo' and- and it's the cutest thing ever."

"Aww." Evan cooed and turned around to face him, arms instantly snaking around the slightly taller man's waist. "Uh, I got an owl related joke, wanna hear?"

"Sure."

~  
There was only one problem with Delirious' brilliant plan. His logic was faulty. Evan could only be seen with his mask on, under his new name he'd come up with a few months back: Vanoss; and as for Jonathan, he could only do the opposite. So there was no way they could show themselves together in public without rising suspicion - according to assassin, like 'come on now Jay that's ridiculous no one would care if you just changed your own mask' Evan countered.

So that's exactly what they did. Luke got his hands on an insane looking raccoon mask to match the animal theme they got going on. 

For a few months it was all fun and games. They snuck around together during the night and had unofficial dates in hidden places they either found together or Jonathan used to use as hideouts. Evan sent his notice to quit his job at Ave Corp via email, destroying the burner phone he used to send it with. It was satisfying really, he almost hit a poor pigeon as he flung it over a rooftop and Jonathan was a proud man.

The latter needed some time to get used to living with somebody but he was glad he could wake up next to someone like Evan. No scratch that, there wasn't anyone like Evan. He was glad he could rise and fall next to him and him only. And the feeling was mutual without a doubt.

On the other hand, the raven haired man wasn't entirely comfortable with their current situation. He didn't have any of his stuff on him, not even a change of clothes, only his credit card phone and keys to his bike - that was still parked at home. So Jonathan either let him borrow his own clothes or bought him some which didn't feel right for Evan. He didn't pay rent nor was let to give any sort of money to the other man for anything. 

Not to mention, he didn't know what to do with the Brock situation, either. He missed his friends and he was afraid that they thought he got kidnapped or something so he insisted upon informing them about his whereabouts - or at least at a certain extent, so his best friend wouldn't worry himself to death.

And as you'd all guessed it, Delirious wasn't so fond of the idea.

"What do you want to tell him then?"

"I have no idea. I can't just waltz in and say: Oh hey Brock, d' you mind giving me my belongings? No don't worry about the mask, it's me Evan I just have to wear this so I can stay alive." Sarcasm was thick in his tone as they bickered back and forth in the kitchen sometime in the third month of Evan's 'absence'.

He'd texted Brock that his _boyfriend_ took him to a surprise trip to Europe and he was not sure when they'd be back. However, that was far from believable, let alone there was no way the elder man hadn't heard about his abrupt leave of the firm at work. He wasn't sure how much he could keep on lying.

Jonathan sighed, having put away the groceries he had to carry home on his own since Evan was practically on house arrest throughout the daylight. "You better figure it out before the cops come looking for you." 

"No shit Sherlock." He rolled his eyes and wondered if he would be able to see his friends ever again. "Sorry for being worried about, you know, not dying." 

"Y-you are saying this like I'm fully responsible for this." Delirious scoffed and pointed an accusing finger at his chest, two more steps and he was all up in his personal space, sharing air but lips far from touching. "When you were the one who couldn't stay away. Don't you dare put the whole blame on me." 

"Fuck me if I'm wrong but I wasn't the one who climbed up to your balcony to make sure you never forgot about me even if you tried. Nor the one who brought back a gun which was most likely wasn't going to be used ever again anyways." Evan shot back as he backed away from him slowly. 

He never blamed Jonathan for it, he never could nor think that he should be the scapegoat. But he couldn't stand this caged feeling anymore. He wanted out.

"Neither of us are more or less responsible than the other."

He fixed his jacket and turned the doorknob pullover's hood on his head but no mask in sight.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Delirious was at his side in a heartbeat, trying to pull him back into the apartment before he could escape.

"To see my friends." Evan stated matter of factly shrugging off the hand that was holding him back. 

"You can't, so you better come back here." The elder of the duo was ready to use his agility advantages but before he could act Evan stalled for a moment.

"Give me a good reason not to." He whispered, itching to hear three smalll words roll of the assassin's tongue.

"You'll die out there!" Delirious threw his hands in the air in disbelief when the other just clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment. 

What was he trying to hear? The blue-eyed man couldn't pinpoint the answer no matter how hard he strained his brain.

Three months of living together, like a couple yet he didn't even try to make it exclusive. That's what bothered Evan the most.

"I said a good reason... But I guess you just want to underestimate me once more. Go ahead and do so but I won't be here to hear it." 

And with that he slipped out the door, locking it behind him, with a mission on his mind and a whole lot of dangers to face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just don't know how to end a fic anymore.
> 
> So yepp, there's still more to come lol


	23. Too Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday, I totally thought it was Thursday oof.

Delirious had no clue what to do. Evan was strong and sharp-witted, trained to be able to defend himself if needed and the assassin knew that. He really did, but that didn't stop him to feel the urge to run out that door that was slammed into his face a minute or so earlier. This wasn't about not believing in him, no, this was a matter of common sense and realistic thinking and he hoped that he could still get a chance to let Evan know that when he finally slipped his mask on, a pistol in gloved hands as he fled the building.

In the meantime the Canadian got pretty far since he'd learned the shortcuts and by-pass roads in the neighborhood when he was actually _allowed_ outside with Jonathan. It was nice to see the sun again, the rays warning up his bare cheeks, Evan could feel free after months of hiding. Not that he didn't like to be around the assassin 24/7 but he got bored whenever he left or Cartoonz was around and he didn't want to eavesdrop on the conversation of the two friends.

Now he just had to figure out how to get home - his old home- without a phone or a real map. Great... He should've thought this through more thoroughly. However, everything happened in the heat of the moment and since he wasn't plotting an escape or anything like that he just thought of the first place - and person- he always radiated to back in the day before he met Delirious: Brock.

There had to be a subway somewhere... He tried to recall the signs and layout of the main street he thought he was headed to but one uncertain turn and he no longer had any idea where he was. Buildings upon buildings, brick walls and grimy pavement was all he could see, regret slowly but surely started steaming in his mind. Attempting to retrace his steps, mocha eyes searched his surroundings feigning confidence with his gait as a few bypassers went on with their own lives.

 _Act natural_ he reminded himself as he quickened his unsteady strides, loathing the way how he managed to get lost so easily. Without any money on him - only a hypothetical sum on his head but there was no way he could get his hands on that- all he could do was to ask someone for directions but where to? He didn't want to run back to Jonathan - he still had his pride and dignity, thank you- but going back to his apartment started to feel more surreal as the seconds passed.

And when he caught a glimpse of two figures behind him in an empty shop's window, for the first time he understood how Delirious felt every time he didn't wear his mask. 

Watched.

Paranoid.

Targeted.

Maybe if he could find a store that was open- slim chances to that, Delirious obviously had to live in the most secluded and isolated part of town- he could slip away, surely no one would try to hurt him in plain sight. Right? 

Wrong.

This wasn't the city of purgation, this was the warm bed of sin and grief. And the tiniest spark of hope that clung onto the disbelief that these men just happened to have business to take care of in the same direction as him, the very speck that found a shelter in the back of his mind evaporated into thin air as they were closing in on him. 

So he did what his ~~unofficial~~ other half had taught him. He ran.

~  
Delirious felt like as if he'd searched the whole city over even though he was only done with an obscure fraction of it and it only had been approximately twelve minutes. Aware that Evan wasn't a ticket evader, he didn't even presume him taking any sort of public transport without money so going to the Canadian's flat didn't cross his mind. He tried to follow their usual paths, getting into a high ground position to have a wider view of the city. 

_"I never thought, I'd learn to not be afraid of heights." Evan admitted to him one day as they sat atop the very roof he currently looked down from._

_Jonathan’s eyes widened back then, a smile forming on his lips as he watched the younger boy's silhouette in the descending sun. He had no clue Evan confronted one of his fears purely in hopes of finding him months prior. The mysterious Delirious, always so serious and according to the Canadian bi-curious. Which was not true but that's beside the point._

_Out of habit he pressed a small kiss on his forehead and murmured against his warm soft skin. "I'm glad you did." And let Evan pull him into a tight hug that said more than any words could._

But now the man he fell in love with had gone ashtray.

And how Evan wished he could literally do that, have the ability to teleport or at least go invisible or something. Stomping of two pairs of feet intensified behind him as he could hear his heart beat faster in his ear, almost as if it somehow slid up into his throat, lungs burning and feet practically numb. Only the rush of adrenaline helped him keep going, he prayed that these men didn't have guns on them. If it were only one, he may have turned around to fight back but he was clearly the underdog here.

The worst thing was that a few other citizens even saw the scene and instead of trying to help or learn more about the situation they crossed the street so they wouldn't get in the way of the chase. It was none of their business, right...

Zigzagging through an alley or two Evan had half a second to look around and size up his chances of survival. The moment of hesitancy was enough for one to get a hold of his arm and yank him back. Evan spun around, dark gaze panicked but determined nonetheless, eyes landing on a dagger sized knife,  
foot quick to shoot up and kick the weapon out of his attacker's grasp. Unfortunately the momentary daze of the man didn't stop his ally from charging right at him. The slightly taller and more built guy swung his own 'shank', slashing Evan's skin on his collarbone, barely missing a vein.

_Holy fuck._

No matter how cliché it may sound, Evan wanted to get that movie perfect 'my life flashed before my eyes' kind of experience when he once and for all realised he was doomed, outnumbered and under-militarized as he saw the emotionless and completely empty look in the criminals' eyes. But it never came. He could only think about Jonathan, and how sorry he was for fading away without making up with him and that he never had a chance to tell him how much he loved him. Oh but who was he kidding? He had plenty of them, he just never used them.

Another strike of their conjoined forces - knives cutting air thanks to the Canadian's reflexes- and Evan snapped out of his self-pity. He held his hands up in surrender for a few seconds, as he backed away slowly a snippet of a memory having resurfaced in his brain.

 _In this city you can never know why they are after you. So you better find out before it's too late._ Jonathan once told him as a windup for a life lesson, Evan hanging on his words like he always did, no longer having to fight the urge to kiss him afterwards because he could. So he did. 

And how much had changed since then. He could barely recall their first agreed meeting at Madera Park and the training the assassin had given him deep down in the forest. Oh how great it would be to turn back time and relive that moment...

"Take my money or whatever you want." He gasped, voice shaky, chosing the best route he may have had.

The two men shared a look, both breaking into grins before they turned back to face him. 

"Don't act dumb, fella. I do want that 5k." The one that injured him addressed Evan at last, a knuckle flung at his cheek.

He managed to duck just in time though so the short man's fist collided with the wall above Evan's shoulder, the latter proceeded to twist the extended arm back and the criminal away from him. 

"I thought we would share. That's what we agreed to do." Tall man stated confused, attention not on his partner whatsoever, charging at Evan in the meantime, rusty blade barely missing his ear as they danced around one another. 

"God, that clown fucker taught you good!" He shouted, growling from how slippery their target happened to be.

"He's not a clown!" Evan protested, losing his balance from a kick to the back of his knees accompanied by a shove of different hands.

"Oh he is. Prancing around in his little hockey mask. Pathetic really." The other voice snarled, the shorter man turned out to be the more hostile one as it seemed.

Evan could hold back one but two? No chance. He wasn't going to go down without redeeming his - friend's name, though no matter how much the gravel scraped his palms and knees through his jeans.

Like that time when he accidentally slipped in the woods and Jonathan pulled him up in feigned annoyance, brushing off his own hands in counterfeit disgust both from the touch and the dirt. Now he craved the opposite.

"He is worth more than you ever could." Evan hissed, putting his strength to a test to save his own life.

A precisely aimed boot to his face and he felt like his jaw just broke from the force of the movement, stopping him from getting back onto his feet. His left cheek had gone numb, ribs stinging from yet another kick to his side. When the very shoes that caused some of his misery stopped in front of his face again, he reached out and grasped the guy's ankle jerking it back, making him fall onto his ass from the sudden action. This created the tiniest of distractions and as neither was looking he rolled onto his side, staggering to his feet, keeping himself from crying out in pain.

That's when his eyes locked onto a fallen knife. Heart racing, he made a leap of faith and jumped to get it but as he leaned down something hard and metal clashed into the back of his head. 

Jonathan dropped down from out of nowhere, he couldn't see clear from his anger only spotting that all too familiar perfect midnight black hairdo from above, having sprinted through half of the neighborhood following a green bandana and a metal baseball bat, without a trace of the possible love of his life. With his mind set on murder he loaded his pistol- but, but he was too late.

Evan's eyes rolled back, vision going black as he fell face first onto the ground, body going limp and brain shutting down with a knife stuck in his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a big yikes from me


	24. Grief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updating schedule got a little messed up- I'm deeply sorry for that but the ending is finally here!
> 
> Ps: Delirious' last human fall flat video just made me ship him with his dork of a boyfriend more. Like how can they be so adorable? They were practically aggressively flirting throughout the whole thing :D

The fall of the bat against concrete rang out in the alleyway and the assassin didn't have to think twice to pull the trigger. He shot the gang member right on his nape, the thug's body tumbling like a domino piece with a shriek, crimson pooling out of the back of his head. Evan's original attackers whipped their heads around at the noise but before they could make a movement Delirious' gun already went off; the one who'd been kicking the Canadian found his destiny first, the short man gripped his chest as he saw the light of the end of his nonexistent tunnel. The assassin knocked his traitorous ally out with the barell of his pistol, having no time to waste the force of the action made him drop dead to the ground.

The blues of the assassin's eyes were barely there, pupils so blown they looked almost black as he made his way over to Evan's unconscious body. With shaking legs, he crouched down, knees almost giving out underneath him as he finally fell on them, trembling fingers reaching down to touch skin that was still warm. 

Everything was so quiet, Jonathan’s heaving never ceased nor diminished, chest feeling so tight he could hardly breath. He carefully reached for the handle of that scumbag's blade and drew it out of his love's shoulder with a wince.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, gentle hands turning Evan over so he was no longer on his stomach but in a half sitting position, pulled up into the older boy's arms. 

Pressing down on the wound - thankfully it wasn't a venal bleeding- he lifted his other hand to feel a pulse, an upheaval of Evan's chest or any sort of vital sign, holding onto hope, believing in a sovereign force for the first time in his life. If there was someone up there looking out for him, this might've been the time to do something.

Then he felt it. 

A faint thud, proving that Evan's heart was still beating. So slow but still there.

Jonathan almost let a single tear escape his eyes when he remembered how he didn't have anything on him to be able to get help. Mind entirely clogged he glanced around the literal crime scene that laid around them. They were in the circle of fallen criminals, in the dead centre of destruction and if the assassin didn't move someone was going to find him with one more corpse.

This wasn't the time to be weak, he reminded himself, almost drawing blood from how hard he bit down on the inside of his cheek.

So with a final mental scolding, he gathered all the remainders of his strength, eyelids fluttering shut, he wrapped his arms around the injured man tighter and lifted him up bridal-style. 

"Don't die on me, please." He whispered, a deep sigh slipping through his mouth as he stepped over the ones wo tried to antagonize him.

_Not today bitches, not today._

~

"You can't come in, Delirious." Lui crossed his arms over his chest as the assassin tried to enter the tiny room for the umpteenth time since they got there. 

Jonathan practically ran a half a mile to reach the only place he trusted when it came to medical treatment: Nogla's Infirmary. The hospital for the fallen, people who danced on a thin line between a wicked and a normal lifestyle. Delirious obviously wasn't supposed to know about this 'operation' but Cartoonz had the right connections per usual so he'd been treated here on numerous occasions when he got hurt so bad he couldn't protest against it.

So there he stood, pacing the narrow hallways of the building - more like house- with his _landlord_ guarding the door of the surgery room. It had been thirty minutes and the doctor Daithi hadn't exited, not even once, only two nurses one called Arlan and the other Scotty. They could both handle the miserable hitman, giving evasive answers to his questions about Evan's conditions. Neither wanted to give him false hope, nor did Lui so he simply tried to keep him somewhat occupied with occasional stories about his boring job now and inquires about Luke every once in a while.

"He didn't want to tell me why you barely leave your apartment nowadays. But I met your boyfriend so that made everything clear, you know." The short Hispanic chuckled and nudged Delirious' foot who sat down, knees bouncing in the meantime. 

No reply came from the assassin, not even a quick denial of that position he got falsely placed in. Evan ~~unfortunately~~ wasn't his boyfriend - but how he wished he could have a chance to change that. 

"He is the first one I've seen you bring up so he must be very special." Lui continued absentmindedly playing with a loose thread of his t-shirt not expecting any sort of acknowledgement for his words.

However, Delirious couldn't help but smile at his sentence and look him in the eye through the holes of his mask. 

"He is." 

"Thought so." Content with his confession, the elder of the duo was about to jump into yet another fairytale but before he could, the door finally opened, Daithi emerging from the room, swiftly barricading the scene away from Jon. 

The latter almost fell over from how quickly he got onto his feet, eyes curious yet dreading the truth.

"He is stable." The Irish medic told him with the tiniest of smiles, tall stance blocking him from going any further. "But- he needs to rest a lot."

"Okay. I-uh, th-thank you so much doc." Delirious shuddered, the weight of the world slowly evaporating from his shoulders.

Evan was still alive! He couldn't believe that he wasn't too late.

"Don't mention it." Daithi waved him off dismissively, beads of sweat like pearls atop his forhead sat in line from the exhausting tending of Evan. "Yer' friend is a fighter, I'll give ye that." 

He chuckled and glanced back to where he came from.

"Extremely lucky too."

The doctor told him how Evan suffered from a mild concussion, fought with some internal bleeding, received a scar on his shoulder that most likely was going to be permanent if not eternal and how sorry he was for the nasty brusing on his jaw and left eye too. 

"But thanks to ye he'll be just fine." Nogla ended his speech as Delirious nodded along, a scowl forming on his face.

Evan shouldn't be thankful for him, he was the cause of it all. Well, partly, but that was not important in Jonathan's mind at that very moment as he took the blame entirely, distressing himself even when he was finally let inside to see the convalescent boy. 

Threading their fingers together he watched the rise and fall of the Canadian's chest, cheeks way paler than usual, purple splotches of color disfiguring his normally sharp features. The room was too bright for his liking, white walls and and a linoleum floor giving it a real hospital effect along with the smell of disinfectants and other chemicals. Jonathan sighed as he lifted Evan's hand up to leave a feather light kiss on his knuckle, the beeping of a heart monitor steady in the background.

Mocha eyes slowly blinked open, body stiff and sore all over. He locked gazes with Jonathan, squeezing the fingers that were entwined with his own, the smallest of smiles displayed on his busted lips. 

"Hey." Evan's tone was hoarse and fragile, Jonathan could only hear him since all of his attention was fixated on the other man. 

"Y-you saved me. Again." He whispered just to be shushed by the assassin as Delirious leaned over and pressed his mouth against his so gently like he was afraid of him breaking under more pressure. 

"Don't tire yourself out more." He told him as he pulled away, navy blues focusing on every perfect newfound imperfection of Evan's. "And don't run out on me like that ever again. That was so reckless and stupid of you, something that I'd do. But I guess that's not really true either..."

Even though Jonathan was indeed mad at him for doing what he did he could stay angry for long. Evan hadn't changed, not even in the slightest, the assassin himself just wasn't used to caring about him so much and experiencing his imprudent nature at first hand yet. Besides, he looked so sorry, total regret written all over him, from his hunched shoulders through his pouty lips to his sad eyes.

"Jonathan, I'm so s -" A thumb swiped accross the younger boy's hand, shutting him up momentarily.

"I- I can't lose you." 

Saying it aloud felt alien to his own ears more so his next confession that left Evan wide eyed but entirely pleased. 

"Because I-" He took a deep breath and met his eyes again, his words got stuck in his throat for a second. "I love you."

Evan's heart almost dropped from how sincere Delirious' say rolled off his tongue, he would've tackled him in a hug if he weren't hooked onto an I.V. . This is all he'd been yearning to hear.

And with his grin widening, Evan couldn't help but say it back. "I love you too."

**Two weeks later**

On the back of his motorcycle he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, a firm grip securing him from falling off of it. With a bulletproof vest on his upper half, a darkened helmet on his head, he rested his chin atop Jonathan’s shoulder as they sped off through yet another border of an unbeknown city, almost a state away from Acongojar by now. A new passport and an I.D. resting in his jacket pocket, he enjoyed as the wind harshly blew against his cheeks, uncontaminated air filling his lungs. Jonathan occasionally glanced back at him to make sure he was still okay, making stops only if necessary before they decided to stray from the roads completely for the day.

Delirious was restless, though whenever they called it a night, no matter how hidden and secure their motel or holiday Inn turned out to be. After he'd mercilessly dealt with Evan's bounty-hunters, the rumor of the 'masked racoon' protecting Delirious' ally spread like wildfire. So he could no longer be himself, Jonathan nor 'Batcoon or Rabid Racoon' or whichever name he came up with to the rodent persona.

Cartoonz proposed them the idea of leaving for good, - although it hurt him just as much it did for his best friend, he knew that was the only logical choice here- which could no longer be unplanted from the assassin's mind. So they had to make a decision and they did. 

Evan got escorted to say his last goodbye to Brock and his friends before that, though as a final wish, Craig and Brian also present for the sorrowful event. Tears were shed that night, countless apologies and sympathy shared with him, none of them could comprehend the reality of the situation and the awful world they lived in.

But as he sat behind his other half, Evan had to let go off that memory and so did Jonathan of his lifelong friendship with Luke. 

This was a new beginning for the two, they had to deal with the grief of their past lives on their own but it didn't mean that big of a problem to them as long as they had one another. And since both practically took an oath to never let go of the other with countless opportunities unfolding before them, Jonathan could see his future with Evan so clearly whenever he let his eyes linger on him if only for a second. And it looked good. So so good.

He was glad he'd listened to the Canadian months prior.

~

"Hey, Ev." Jonathan slipped into his boyfriend's office, only addressing him when the door was neatly shut behind him.

Evan worked hard to pursue a new career and get hired for a video game development company. His job was to test the new ones out, find glitches and make changes, and his other half became his assistant as soon as he got promoted and received that privileged to have one - a bit of a farfetched one but that's beside the point. Before that Jonathan made sure his name was all clear and tried to adjust to the 'normal lifestyle'. Technically this job was his first legal one so it wasn't as easy as pie to be quite frank but Evan was there for him and that's all that mattered. Jonathan couldn't imagine a better life than the one this fresh start had given him - or rather them.

In any way soever, he hugged Evan from behind, pressing his lips onto the side of his face then leaving a trail off kisses down his neck. 

"Hey no." Evan trembled under his touch, jumping away from the tickling sensation. "I told you no PDA in the workplace."

"Yeah?" Jonathan - now Liam according to his papers- batted his long lashes at him with a challenging look and a smirk. "Well, screw your rules."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are the best if you've made it this far so thanks for reading.
> 
> Until next time, follow me on Tumbr @Sophieistrashaf or Wattpad under the same username ( I might post this fic there too eventually, I'm not sure yet)
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> -Sophie xx


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